BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania — Republicans question whether Elon Musk‘s daily $1 million sweepstakes that has generated splashy headlines will also generate new voters to turn out for former President Donald Trump just two weeks before the election.
The billionaire made the announcement over the weekend that registered swing-state voters who sign his super PAC’s petition would be entered into a daily lottery until Nov. 5 for a chance to become millionaires.
So far, the three Pennsylvania residents who have won Musk’s lottery are registered Republicans who were active voters before winning the sweepstakes, according to state records. The first two winners, John Dreher and Kristine Fishell, had already voted in this year’s election. The third winner announced on Monday, Shannon Tomei, is a registered Republican who already had an approved mail-in ballot request for the 2024 election, per public records.
The sweepstakes was open to voters in swing states, such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, or Wisconsin, who signed a “Petition in Favor of Free Speech and the Right to Bear Arms” by Monday, Oct. 21, the voter registration deadline in Pennsylvania.
Musk, the SpaceX, Tesla, and X entrepreneur, endorsed Trump in July after the former president survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. His PAC has taken over much of Trump’s ground operation in swing states and has made Pennsylvania a focus of his own personal outreach. The billionaire has contributed about $75 million to his America PAC since he founded it in May, including $30 million in September alone, according to Federal Election Commission filings, making him one of Trump’s largest financial benefactors.
Some Republican consultants are unsure whether the giveaway is actually incentivizing a new group of voters or just tapping into an existing group of Trump fans.
“It’s a lot of money to be spending, and I’m seriously uncertain of what exactly Musk is trying to do here,” a GOP consultant based in Pennsylvania who spoke on the condition of anonymity said. “It feels like these new people coming in are trying to reinvent the wheel, and I guess we won’t know if their efforts worked until after the election.”
“Part of me feels like that money would be better used if they invested it into ground-game operations in Midwestern states. That’s a tried and true way of actually getting out the vote,” the consultant added.
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While some legal experts say the contest could be a violation of a federal law that makes it illegal to offer an incentive to register to vote or cast a ballot, other Republicans are skeptical about the impact of Musk’s influence.
“The jury is still out on whether Elon Musk is just the ultimate fanboy or if he’s the ultimate political patron,” said Dennis Lennox, a Republican consultant. “At the end of the day, however, he’s certainly the dream client for every political consultant because he literally has billions of dollars, and he wants to play.”
With just weeks until Election Day, Lennox is concerned it could be too little, too late, for a flashy giveaway.
“It should have been done six months ago,” Lennox said. “We are now two weeks out from Election Day. People have been voting for six or seven weeks in some states. In Michigan, over 14% of registered voters have cast a ballot. That’s over a million votes, and that number is increasing every day.”
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign raised more than three times as much money as the Trump campaign despite the two candidates remaining in a dead heat in recent polling. Harris for President raised $221.8 million and spent $269.8 million last month and has $187.5 million cash on hand, according to a FEC filing released Sunday.
Trump’s campaign raised $62.7 million in September, ending the month with $119.7 million cash on hand, according to the campaign’s FEC filing. The Trump campaign spent $77.6 million.
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) said on Meet the Press on Sunday that the lottery was “deeply concerning” and suggested law enforcement could investigate it. Some former GOP lawmakers, advisers, and Justice Department officials are calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the effort, according to a letter sent to Garland and obtained by the Washington Post.
“I think people are looking into that,” Harris said when asked specifically about Musk’s sweepstakes and the legality surrounding it, speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon. “I hear folks are looking into it based on the stuff you all are reporting.”
Republicans in Pennsylvania are applauding Musk’s efforts and believe the cash he’s infusing is “leveling the playing field” with billionaire liberal kingmaker George Soros.
“If you’re gonna have a double standard, you gotta allow it. Let the dark money from Soros come in, let the dark money from Elon come in. Level the playing field,” 69-year-old voter Bill from Bethlehem said.
Thomas Carroll, Bethlehem Republican city chairman, said Musk and other surrogates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are helping to broaden the party to Reagan Democrats.
“Elon Musk is amazing. He’s probably one of the smartest men on the face of the planet,” Carroll said. “I think it’s great what he’s doing.”
Former Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis called Musk’s sweepstakes a “brilliant” idea.
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“I think that the million-dollar-a-day deal probably gets them $10 [million] to $20 million a day worth of pre-earned media, both in the state and elsewhere around the country,” Anuzis said. “I think it probably has a, you know, fairly large multiplier effect that, you know, only one can guess how big it is.”
“Every winner has a human interest story, right? I mean, you know, it’s just a great way to tell a story. It’s a great way to reflect on why people are supporting Trump and because it’s going to get coverage,” he said.
