Elon Musk's Wisconsin Event Interrupted by Heckler

Elon Musk was interrupted by a heckler on Saturday at an event in Wisconsin where he handed out two $1 million cheques to two voters who backed his petition against "activist judges."

Newsweek contacted Musk, via the Tesla and SpaceX press offices, for comment via email on Monday outside of regular office hours.

Why It Matters

On Tuesday voters in Wisconsin go to the polls to elect a new justice for the state Supreme Court.

The court currently has a 4-3 liberal-leaning majority, but one of the liberal justices is retiring leaving overall control up for grabs. Musk has strongly endorsed conservative candidate Brad Schimel against Susan Crawford, who has Democratic Party backing. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has substantial influence over a range of matters including voting rules that could impact the 2028 presidential election.

What To Know

Musk, a key adviser to President Donald Trump, has been campaigning ahead of Tuesday's Wisconsin's supreme court election—the most expensive judicial election—which could flip the ideological balance of the court from liberal to conservative.

Musk's America PAC shared a 39 second clip on his X website showing the moment Musk was challenged by a heckler, though what they said was largely inaudible.

In response Musk said: "It was inevitable that at least a few Soros operatives would be in the audience! Give my regards to George. Say hi to George for me."

This sparked cheers from the crowd who broke into a chant of "USA, USA" which Musk then joined from the stage. Musk didn't provide any evidence that the heckler had any affiliation with George Soros.

The America PAC clip was shared by popular conservative leaning account 'The Redheaded libertarian,' and this was shared again by Musk who simply added "kek," internet slang for laugh out loud.

Video on social media showed several hundred people demonstrating outside the venue waving placards with slogans such as "I can't be bought" and "My Vote is Priceless."

Musk originally said he would give $1 million to each of two people who signed his petition against "activist judges." He later said the checks would be given to "2 people to be spokesmen" for the petition.

On Sunday the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear a case against the payments from the state's Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, following similar decisions from two lower courts. Kaul had argued Musk's payments breached state law banning making it a felony to give voters anything of value in exchange for them voting.

Conservative Crawford led the more liberal Schimel with 42 percent of the vote against 35 percent, with 17 percent undecided, in a poll of 800 registered Wisconsin voters conducted between February 25 and 28 by RMG Research.

What People Are Saying

Elon Musk said at the event: "You know the reason for the cheques is that it's really just to get attention. It's like we need to get attention and somewhat inevitably when I do these things...it causes the legacy media to kind of lose their minds and then they'll run it on every news channel."

Derrick Honeyman, a spokesperson for Crawford's campaign, previously told Newsweek: "It turns out that Schimel is such a bad candidate that Elon Musk will spend whatever it takes to prop up Schimel's failing campaign in a corrupt attempt to buy influence on the Supreme Court for his company's lawsuit. It's corrupt, it's extreme, and it's disgraceful to our state and judiciary. Wisconsinites should vote for the fair and common-sense candidate on Tuesday, Judge Susan Crawford."

President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post: "Brad Schimel's Opponent, Susan Crawford, is a DISASTER! She is so Far Left that even her own Party, the Radical Democrats, don't want ANYTHING to do with her. Wisconsin Values are perfectly represented by Brad Schimel."

What Happens Next

The winner of Tuesday's Wisconsin Supreme Court contest could have a significant impact on issues including abortion access and electoral rules in the state.