Musk poured a ton of money, time, and energy into this race

In particular, the race was seen as a test of Musk’s political sway, as his super PAC, America PAC, alone spent more than $12 million to support Schimel. He also traveled to Wisconsin the Sunday before the election, where he handed out $1 million checks to voters who had signed his petition against “activist judges.”

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Schimel already conceded and said that they had to respect election results. (To a booing crowd of supporters)

      Kind of something that what used to be 100% standard by all is now suprising

  • benvoliobenji@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    41
    ·
    edit-2
    19 hours ago

    I live in Wisconsin. This morning was the busiest I’ve seen the voting locations, even beating 2024. I’m so relieved she won.

    Funnily enough there was a guy who had a gigantic TRUMP 2024 sign out last year and suspiciously had…no sign out for Schimel. Lots of Crawford signs though.

    Edit: Dane County (where Madison, the capitol is) had a nearly 70% turnout ON AN OFF YEAR. Absolutely insane!

    • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      11 hours ago

      In my country, that would mean 30% of the voting population would have to pay a fine (for not voting).

      Such a low bar

    • 1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 day ago

      That’s one of the things I noticed in my part of the state too (northwest). Lots of Crawford signs, few trump signs. That says a lot because we’re very red out here

  • Today@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    49
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    Happy to see that voters can play him for money like he thinks he’s playing then for votes.

  • dogerwaul@pawb.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    1 day ago

    as a wisconsinite, you’re welcome lol. i was very worried. Schimel was leading and i became despondent and stopped watching. very happy things turned around. however, the voter ID passed and that shit pisses me off.

    • Noxy@pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      1 day ago

      Voter ID is blatant voter suppression and I’m so disappointed that so many people just accept it with zero critical thought, when republicans have flat out admitted that it benefits them in elections

      • dogerwaul@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        1 day ago

        yup, it’s frustrating as hell. it sounds like it makes sense though, so many people just accept it without thinking. there are far more voters who become suppressed because of voter ID laws than any voter ID law has prevented or stopped illegal voting. it’s ridiculous. i beg of liberals to just fucking do any research about it at all, please.

  • Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    edit-2
    1 day ago

    Great news, we need any win we can get.

    But Florida lost to the republicans, by a decent margin. We can chock it off as just being Florida, but it’s still telling. Given everything that’s happening, people are still voting republican. Don’t get complacent, I guess.

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      24
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      *In deep red districts. Like R+33 red

      Dems overperformed by like 20 points. They probably would have outperformed more if Republicans didn’t notice the close polling and start pouring millions into the race

      Yes, don’t be complacent, but don’t look at it strictly in a binary way

      • jacksilver@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 day ago

        Another thing is, I believe, that it wasn’t dems showing up to vote, the shift in margin was Republicans voting for democrats. If that’s really the case that’s huge, cause it doesn’t mean Republicans are disengaged, they’re starting to work against the current admin.

        • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          edit-2
          1 day ago

          Both appear to be happening in the specials lately

          Higher comparative dem turnout and some degree of persuasion is likely

          Can’t directly tell because individual votes are anonymous, but you can tell what party a voter is registered with in some states.

          Generally seeing higher turnout among registered dems and margins large enough to suggest that many independent and likely some Republicans are shifting their votes

      • Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 day ago

        Yep I understand and totally agree. The details matter.

        But ya know, it’s just dissapointing. Having dems actually win in those districts would have been huge. But it’s not surprising.

  • Nunar@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 day ago

    Musk is like the evil wizard in a children’s show. He hopes to turn the smurfs into gold while grownups vote for the actual constitution.

  • MCasq_qsaCJ_234@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    1 day ago

    One of two things: Elon will either spend more money or stop spending money.

    In other news, Elon has ignored this issue and focused solely on Voter ID.

  • Makeitstop@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    1 day ago

    They spent an obscene amount, used horrible scare tactics, lied, slandered, and bribed people into voting for their pro-Trump shill and after all that, they lost in a blowout.

    This was a must win, and Wisconsin came through for us. Not only will this help protect the rule of law in Wisconsin, but it could very well determine the outcome of both the mid terms and potentially even the next presidential election. Or at least, it likely prevented the other guy from letting the Republicans get away with blatant voter suppression and gerrymandering that they almost certainly would have reinstituted once they controlled the courts again.

  • danc4498@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    Just in time for Trump to declare the courts invalid and implement his own courts under the judicial branch.

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 day ago

      This is for a state court, not a federal one

      State courts make decisions about state laws and are enforced by state officals

        • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          11
          ·
          1 day ago

          Elon Musk does. He poured $12 million into it for a reason. He has cases before the Wisconsin court system for violations of Wisconsin law. They can carry those penalties out without Trump being able to pardon for them either (can only pardon for federal crimes)

          • danc4498@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 day ago

            Trump doesn’t care about the difference between state and judicial courts. I don’t think Musk does either.

            Did they hope this election went their way? Sure, that’s why they spent pocket change on the election. But they don’t care about the structure of courts in America. This was just a nice to have.

            • peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              1 day ago

              They might not care, but the courts are not powerless. I keep seeing this sentiment, but I’m continually amazed that people think Trump just ignores it.

              The lawsuits and judges making demands arent just words. The problem is that judges do things by the book and most people can’t be bothered to sit around and wait for that to happen.

              Trump is currently trying to “out run” the courts. He is aware they have power, he’s trying to remove that power.

              • danc4498@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                23 hours ago

                January 6th literally was Trump ignoring the rules. If he had a Vice President that was on board, we may be living in a significantly different country right now.

                The courts are absolutely powerless. They make decisions and hope that the people in charge recognize their authority and enforce their rules.

                Trump is looking for an opportunity to defy the courts and declare them Illegitimate. Then it will be up to local governments to enforce their rules, possibly even against federal officers.

                This was who he was in his last term, he just didn’t have the administration fully committed to his goals. That is 100% different this time.

            • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              edit-2
              1 day ago

              Musk spending $25 million and also reduces his grip on congressional Republicans

              They have been worried about him funding challangers against them. If he can spend this kind of money and heavier time investment and still lose badly, that reduces a motivation to go along with him

              • danc4498@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 day ago

                But this doesn’t really have anything go do with my original point. I think Trump fully intends to disregard whatever court goes against him. State or federal.

                • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 day ago

                  State courts can carry out arrests and penalties themselves without federal government involvement

                  Primarily in the context of Musk that’s going to matter with his active cases in the WI court

                  Other states governments can extradite him too even if he never steps foot in Wisconsin. He’d have to basically never go anywhere other than federal territories or deep red state to avoid that. That’s assuming they’d block his extradition in the first place which is quite rare to begin with