Elon Musk’s PAC Just Gave an Eau Claire Man $1M
one of the latest winners of controversial election-related petition drawing is from E.C.
V1 Staff |
One of the latest winners of an election-related sweepstakes sponsored by billionaire Elon Musk’s super PAC is an Eau Claire man.
According to a late-night social media post shared by the world’s richest man Thursday, Brian Bauer of Eau Claire received $1 million from America PAC. It’s part of a recently-announced (and controversial) daily drawing for registered voters in swing states who sign a petition “pledging (their) support for the First and Second Amendments.”
At 10pm Thursday, America PAC made a post on X (the Musk-owned platform formerly known as Twitter) stating “Brian from Eau Claire, Wisconsin received $1M for signing our petition to support the Constitution. Every day until Election Day, a person who signs will be selected to earn $1M as a spokesperson for America PAC.”
Minutes later, Musk shared the post, congratulating the winner. The accompanying picture showed a family of five (and their dog) holding an oversized check made out to Brian Bauer.
No further information about the winner was offered, although public records did show a Brian Bauer living on the City of Eau Claire’s north side. That Bauer ran for a seat on the Eau Claire County Board in 2022.
As of mid-October, Musk had donated nearly $75 million to America PAC, a political action committee formed to promote the presidential candidacy of former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. According to the PAC’s website, it was created to support “secure borders, safe cities, free speech, sensible spending, (a) fair justice system, (and) self protection.”
The news came after media reports that the federal Department of Justice had warned the political action committee that the giveaway “may violate federal law.” As CNN reported Wednesday, “Federal law bars paying people to register to vote. The language of the petition currently promises $1 million prizes to people chosen at random for signing a petition in support of First and Second Amendment freedoms. But to sign the petition, you must be registered to vote in specific states.”
According to America PAC’s petition website, the drawing “is exclusively open to registered voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina” – all considered critical swing states in the Nov. 5 election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
According to The Washington Post, “Musk has defended the petition online, saying voters who want to be eligible for the $1 million prizes do not need to register as Republicans or vote in the Nov. 5 election.”
