WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. senators are shrugging off the party’s punishing defeat in Wisconsin Tuesday, with some coming to Elon Musk’s defense despite the billionaire becoming a lightning rod many credit with tilting the state supreme court race away from the GOP.
“No. He was helpful,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story the day after progressive Judge Susan Crawford beat her conservative opponent, Judge Brad Schimel, by 10%.
Democrats were astounded watching their Republican counterparts embrace Musk after Wisconsin voters seemingly rejected the man credited with firing tens of thousands of federal workers and owning the ensuing chaos emanating from his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“He's increasingly toxic, because people see what he's doing,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told Raw Story. “This isn't rocket science. He's destroying people's lives, and he's enriching himself. This is the most corrupt White House in the history of the country, and Musk has a lot to do with that story.”
But on Capitol Hill, Republicans came to Musk’s defense despite Politico reporting that President Donald Trump’s preparing to boot Musk. And soon.
Elon Musk pulled out all the stops.
He handed out $1 million checks to three Wisconsin voters, funded door knocking efforts across the state and, all told, donned a cheesehead on stage and dropped upwards of $25 million — roughly a quarter of what was spent on the contest — on the losing conservative judge in Wisconsin’s record-setting supreme court race.
To today’s Republican senators, it seems, that’s a drop in the proverbial bucket.
“Oh, there's a lot that goes into elections, you can't blame somebody in Washington, D.C. for what happens in Wisconsin, you guys know that,” Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) told Raw Story when asked about Musk’s role in the race.
Fischer’s not alone.
Wisconsin's senior U.S. senator said Crawford would have won by more had Musk not infused millions into the contest.
“You think he was helpful?” Raw Story asked.
“Yeah. This is Trump derangement syndrome, and they're fired up — the other side is fired up,” Johnson replied. “And, unfortunately, our folks didn’t realize what they needed to do.”
Other Republicans are asking, "Elon who?"
“Are you worried that Elon Musk is becoming a liability to the party?” Raw Story asked.
“I haven’t spent one minute worrying about whether Elon Musk is a liability, to be honest with you,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told Raw Story.
While many elected Republicans hope to keep Musk in their good graces, Democrats say it’s impossible to untangle the wealthiest man in the world from today’s new right.
“What do you make of your Republican colleagues laughing Musk off, saying, ‘he has nothing to do with our party’?” Raw Story asked.
“Elon Musk wearing a cheesehead in Green Bay on Sunday kind of flipped that on its head,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) told Raw Story.
Even if Trump ditches Musk, progressives promised they won’t let voters forget.
“It's still going to be the most corrupt White House. They're not going to, like, shed Elon Musk and all of a sudden pull one over on people,” Murphy said. “The Trump administration made a decision to hand the government over to the billionaires, and that's going to continue whether Elon Musk is there or not.”
Still, Murphy said it’s foolish to focus too much on Musk when he’s merely carrying out Trump’s wishes, regardless of DOGE cuts or electoral defeats.
“Obviously, Musk made himself a very, you know, prominent player, but the president is still the president of the United States,” Murphy told Raw Story. “All these special elections tend to be a referendum on the party in charge.”