- Elon Musk’s America PAC awarded $1 million checks to two Wisconsin residents at a Green Bay event.
- One of the recipients, Nicholas Jacobs, is the chairman of the Wisconsin College Republicans and has worked for Republican campaigns.
- The giveaway sparked controversy and legal challenges over potential violations of election bribery laws.
One of the recipients of Elon Musk’s $1 million checks at his event in Green Bay Sunday night is the chairman of the Wisconsin College Republicans, sparking some suspicion on social media that the giveaway was fixed.
Nicholas Jacobs, a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, is listed as the chairman of Wisconsin’s College Republicans chapter. He has made his account private on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that Musk owns.
More: All our reporting on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Susan Crawford, Brad Schimel
According to his LinkedIn account, Jacobs worked for the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Rep. Derrick Van Orden. In the fall of 2024, he worked as a “ballot chase representative” for Turning Point Action, which began as a youth-focused group active on college campuses but has expanded its voter outreach operations, especially in Wisconsin.
The connection was pointed out on X by Niall Stanage, a White House columnist at The Hill.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Green Bay Press-Gazette have attempted to reach Jacobs and the other recipient, Ekaterina Diestler, for comment. Diestler works as a graphic designer, according to her LinkedIn profile. She does not appear to have worked in politics.
Jacobs and Diestler recorded testimonial videos posted on America PAC’s X account. The political action committee, led by Musk, has spent at least $11.5 million on digital advertising, mailers, texts, field operations and voter turnout in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race.
“I was in the audience, and my name was called as the recipient of a check for $1 million, and I didn’t believe it. I was nervous, I was shaking,” Jacobs said in his video. “(Musk) is motivating people to go out and vote in a way that hasn’t been done before.”
In her video, Diestler said she would invest the money, which represents “a big step into the future. A lot of opportunities will open up for me to be on my own and live my life.”
Musk said residents receiving the $1 million checks would serve as spokespeople for his “Petition In Opposition To Activist Judges.”
Musk initially said he would hand out the checks “in appreciation for you taking the time to vote,” but reframed the giveaway to focus on the petition after election experts and Democrats questioned whether the offer violated the state’s election bribery laws.
Despite that reframing, Musk’s giveaway followed a weekend-long legal scuffle over its legality, with Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filing a lawsuit to block the payments on Friday and the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court rejecting Kaul’s request minutes before the event was set to begin.
He also announced what he termed a “block captain” program in which Wisconsinites could earn $20 for each neighbor they recruit to pose for a photo while holding a specific picture of Schimel and giving a thumbs-up sign.
Last week, Musk gave away $1 million to a Green Bay voter identified as Scott Ainsworth for signing the petition.
