Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes can go ahead, Pennsylvania judge says

PHILADELPHIA — The $1 million-a-day sweepstakes that Elon Musk’s political action committee is hosting in swing states can continue until Tuesday’s presidential election, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Monday.

Common Pleas Judge Angelo Foglietta — ruling after Musk’s lawyers said the winners were paid spokespeople and not chosen at random — did not immediately explain his reasoning.

District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, called the lawsuit a scam “designed to effectively influence national elections” and asked to be closed.

Musk’s attorney Chris Gober said the last two recipients before Tuesday’s presidential election will be in Arizona on Monday and Michigan on Tuesday.

“Recipients of a million dollars are not chosen by chance,” Gober said Monday. “We know exactly who will be announced as the million dollar recipient today and tomorrow.”

Chris Young, director and treasurer of America PAC, testified that recipients are vetted ahead of time to “get a feel for their personality (and) make sure they’re someone whose values align” with the group.

Musk’s lawyers, defending the effort, called it “basic political speech,” given that attendees are signing a petition endorsing the U.S. Constitution. They also said Krasner’s request to shut it down under Pennsylvania law was moot because there would be no more Pennsylvania winners before the program ended Tuesday.

Krasner believes the gifts violate state election law and contradict what Musk promised when he announced them during an appearance with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 19: “We’re going to give a million dollars . randomly to people who signed the petition every day from now until the election,” Musk promised.

Young also admitted that PAC made recipients sign confidentiality agreements.

“They couldn’t really reveal the truth about how they got the money, could they?” Summers asked.

“Sounds good,” Young said.

In an Oct. 20 social media post shown in court, Musk said anyone who signs the petition has “a daily chance to win $1 million!”

Summers said of Musk’s use of both the words “chance” and “random,” prompting Young to admit that the latter is “not the word I would have chosen.”

Young said the winners knew they would be called on stage, but not specifically that they would win the money.

Musk did not attend the hearing. He has committed more than $70 million to super PACs to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.

“This was all political marketing masquerading as a lottery,” Krasner testified Monday. “That’s it. A graft.”

Lawyers for Musk and the PAC said they do not plan to extend the lottery beyond Tuesday. Krasner said the first three winners, as of Oct. 19, came from Pennsylvania in the days leading up to the Oct. 21 voter registration deadline.

Other winners came from the battleground states of Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan. It is not clear if anyone has received the money yet. PAC promised to receive it by Nov. 30, according to evidence presented in court.

More than 1 million people in the seven states entered the sweepstakes by signing a petition saying they support the right to free speech and bear arms, the first two amendments to the US Constitution. Krasner questioned how the PAC could use the data, which it will have at hand long after the election.

“They were cheated of their information,” Krasner said. “It has almost unlimited uses.”

Krasner’s team called Musk “the heartbeat of America PAC” and the person who announced the winners and presented the checks.

“He was the one who presented the cheques, albeit big cardboard cheques. We don’t really know if there are any real checks,” Summers said.

Foglietta presided over the case at Philadelphia City Hall after Musk and the PAC lost an effort to move it to federal court.

Krasner said he could still consider criminal charges because he is tasked with protecting both the lotteries and the integrity of elections.

Pennsylvania remains a key battleground state with 19 electoral votes, and both Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris have visited the state repeatedly, including stops planned on Monday in the final hours of the campaign.

Krasner — who noted that he has long driven a Tesla — said he may also seek civil damages for the Pennsylvania claimants. Musk is the CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla. He also owns the social media platform X, where America PAC has posted about the raffle, and the rocket manufacturer SpaceX.