Elon Musk's million-dollar gifts draw ire from Democrats: they accuse him of buying votes

Less than three weeks before the presidential election, Elon Musk began daily giveaways of $1 million among those registered voters who signed his super PAC's petition on free speech and the right to bear arms. Just two days later, Democrats and some legal experts began questioning the initiative, even threatening legal action.

"The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments," Musk's petition for America PAC reads.

"I have a surprise for you. We're going to award $1 million randomly to people who have signed the petition, every day from now until the election," he said during a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania event. The businessman is embarking on a tour of different counties in the Keystone State to increase voting intention in favor of his friend Donald Trump.

The first winner was John Dreher, who described himself as a "big fan" of Musk. He was followed by Kristine Fishell, who was thrilled to take the stage in Pittsburgh. The third lucky winner was Shannon, of McKees Rocks, who won Monday's drawing.

"Something the authorities should look at"

Some Democrats and legal analysts came out to criticize the move by X's owner. One of the biggest names to speak out on the matter was Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania.

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," he said the gifts from the world's richest man are "deeply troubling" and "something that authorities should look at."

""I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians," added Shapiro, who served as the state's attorney general from 2017 to 2023.

Another to weigh in on the case was writer Stephen King. "You notice Musk isn't giving money to Democrats. He's basically buying votes. Might have worked in Chicago; won't work in Pennsylvania," he wrote on his X account.

For Michael Morse, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Musk's initiative "has very questionable legality at best." He also added that it could be a "small" issue for state officials. "There are bigger issues than this particular stunt," he added in dialogue with Axios.

Rick Hasen, a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, went even further with his analysis of the case. "While perhaps some of the other things Musk was doing were of questionable legality, this one is clearly illegal. (...) The problem is that the only people eligible to participate in this giveaway are the people who are registered to vote. And that makes it illegal," he told CBS in a phone interview.

Along the same lines was Brendan Fischer, a lawyer specializing in campaign finance. "There would be few doubts about the legality if every Pennsylvania-based petition signer were eligible, but conditioning the payments on registration arguably violates the law," he said, also speaking to CBS.