Trump White House brushes off Wisconsin loss amid warning signs around Elon Musk's role
As Democrats celebrate a battleground-state win in the most expensive judicial campaign in U.S. history, President Donald Trump and the GOP are confronting a worrying early sign about what the intense spotlight on Elon Musk’s influence means for the party.
As Democrats celebrate a battleground-state win in the most expensive judicial campaign in U.S. history, President Donald Trump and the GOP are confronting a worrying early sign about what the intense spotlight on Elon Musk’s influence means for the party.
Musk, the billionaire White House adviser, played a starring role in the race, using personal funds and allied outside groups to put more than $15 million behind former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, the Trump-endorsed candidate who ran against Madison County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford. Crawford and her allies responded in kind, using Musk as a foil and scoring a decisive win.
Though the race was technically nonpartisan, there were intense partisan overtones — and it functionally transformed into a proxy vote on Trump’s first two months in office and especially on Musk, who has become one of the most powerful people in Republican politics since Trump won last year.
Yet while the results were not promising in Republicans’ first statewide test of the second Trump administration, Trump advisers are — at least for now — brushing off the loss, noting it was an off-year election with lower turnout than the recent presidential race.
“The results are what they are. It’s an off-year race and predictive of nothing,” a Trump adviser said. “I don’t think you can read too much into it, including Elon’s role.”
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