MADISON, WI – Today, a bipartisan coalition supported a formal complaint filed by a Wisconsin citizen with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission against Building America’s Future, an organization backed by billionaire Elon Musk, for violations of Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws.
Based on public reporting, Building America’s Future, under its “Progress 2028” fictitious name, has spearheaded a digital political ad campaign that pretends to support Susan Crawford’s candidacy for the Wisconsin Supreme Court election but whose real purpose is to disseminate messages that they believe will damage Crawford’s candidacy. According to the same public reporting, these advertisements, which have been running on Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram since February 24, 2025, are part of a “deceptive” strategy to mislead voters.
The complaint, filed by longtime Wisconsin Republican activist Tracy Ann Mangold, and supported by State Democracy Defenders Action and Principles First, alleges that the organization failed to disclose these deceptive express advocacy disbursements and improperly used a fictitious name, “Progress 2028” to hide the true source of the ads.
The complaint goes on to say despite $4 million in express advocacy spending for the Wisconsin spring election, Building America’s Future apparently neglected to report any expenditures related to the “Progress 2028” ads, including direct payments to Meta, Facebook, or Instagram. If that’s the case, in doing so, Building America’s Future has also illegally failed to report on digital political express advocacy advertisements in Wisconsin.
Anyone found to intentionally violate any registration or reporting requirement in the state of Wisconsin is guilty of a Class I felony.
“Elon Musk’s PAC has dumped millions into this race in an apparent attempt to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court – and now it appears the PAC has broken the law while doing it,” said Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), co-founder and executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Action. “Even the richest people in the world must follow the laws in this country. I’m proud to be part of the bipartisan team holding Musk’s political activities accountable.”
Wisconsin law mandates that all organizations making disbursements for express advocacy adhere to campaign finance reporting and attribution requirements.
The complaint urges the Wisconsin Ethics Commission to investigate Building America’s Future and its potential use of Progress 2028 as a front for political advertising. It requests that the Commission hold the organization accountable for violating Wisconsin’s campaign finance transparency laws.
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State Democracy Defenders Action brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state and local allies across the country committed to upholding the rule of law, fighting against autocracy and defending the Constitution.
Principles First is a nationwide grassroots movement of people who share a love of American democracy and concern for the direction of our existing conservative leadership.