Musk-Backed Political Group Blasts Wrong Woman in Attack Ad Meant For Democratic Judge

A political action group linked to billionaire Elon Musk was forced to pull a social media ad they circulated in Wisconsin after realizing it targeted the wrong person.

Political group Building America's Future attempted to attack Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, a liberal candidate who is running for Wisconsin Supreme Court, by creating an ad featuring her. Instead, the group accidentally used an image of a different Susan Crawford, reported Wisconsin Public Radio.

The ad featured an image of climate change columnist and former Harvard Law School Professor Susan P. Crawford while directing viewers to a website outlining Judge Crawford's crime record.

"Maybe an audit is needed of the staff at Musk's shady far-right group," Derrick Honeyman, a spokesperson for the judge's campaign, said in a statement. "Wisconsinites shouldn't trust a single thing from these guys."

The ad, which Honeyman further referred to as a "fraud," ran for four days and allegedly cost $3,000 to run. Building America's Future, a group Musk helps with funding, has pledged to spend over $1.5 million on anti-Crawford ads to be aired in markets across the state. The sum accompanies $1 million pledged by another Musk-backed PAC to uplift the campaign efforts of conservative candidate, Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel.

Musk began to support Schimel after his company, Tesla, sued Wisconsin due to legislation preventing car manufacturers from also owning dealerships within the state.

"The rush to get on air with negative ads, the appetite some audiences seem to have for them, all kind of contribute to the environment where mistakes like this can happen," political communications expert Michael Wagner told WPR. "It just makes it look like the opposition to Crawford doesn't have their act together and might just be willing to say anything without carefully vetting what it is they're talking about."