US tech billionaire Elon Musk handed out $1 million checks at an event in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Sunday, encouraging voters to back the conservative candidate in the state’s Supreme Court race, which he said could decide the “future of civilization.”

“Everybody’s got to mobilize everywhere like crazy for the next 48 hours,” said Musk, who donned a cheesehead hat for part of the event.

“I think this will be important for the future of civilization. It’s that significant.”

Musk said he was handing out the checks “in appreciation” to two individuals, Nicholas Jacobs and Ekaterina Diestler, who signed a petition against “activist judges” and supported conservative candidate Judge Brad Schimel for a contentious race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The giveaway came hours after the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear state Attorney General Josh Kaul’s request to stop Musk and his America Political Action Committee (PAC) from offering two $1 million giveaways to attendees.

Kaul had argued that “Musk’s announcement of his intention to pay $1 million to two Wisconsin electors who attend his event on Sunday night, specifically conditioned on their having voted in the upcoming April 3, 2025, Wisconsin Supreme Court election, is a blatant attempt to violate state law.”

He said the law “forbids anyone from offering or promising to give anything of value to an elector in order to induce the elector to go to the polls, vote or refrain from voting, or vote for a particular person.”

Two political groups aligned with Musk – the America PAC and Building America’s Future – have invested more than $17 million in backing Schimel for the open seat.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, it is now the most expensive state Supreme Court race in US history. (Anadolu Agency)