Politics
NewsOnScale Staff
October 17, 2026
During the 2024 presidential election, Elon Musk stood at a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and announced that America PAC would give away $1 million every day to a randomly selected voter who signed his free speech and Second Amendment petition.
"We're going to be awarding a million dollars — randomly — to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election," he said.
His own attorneys later told a court that none of the 17 people who received the money were randomly chosen. "There is no 'prize' to be won," one of Musk's lawyers said in court. "Instead recipients must fulfill contractual obligations to serve as spokesperson for the PAC."
Not a lottery. Not random. A predetermined list of paid spokespeople presented to the public as lucky winners.
On Thursday October 15, 2026, Musk settled two fraud lawsuits filed by voters in Pennsylvania and six other swing states who said they were deceived by the giveaway. The terms of the settlement reached in a Texas federal court were not disclosed. America PAC did not respond to requests for comment.
What the lawsuits alleged
Plaintiffs said they were misled into believing they had a genuine chance to win $1 million by signing a petition. Instead the money went to predetermined recipients who were contractually obligated to serve as America PAC spokespeople — effectively paid political advertising disguised as a public lottery.
The Justice Department warned America PAC in 2024 that the giveaways may violate longstanding federal laws against vote-buying. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a lawsuit calling it an illegal lottery violating Pennsylvania consumer protection laws. His argument was rejected on procedural grounds but the underlying fraud claims survived in federal court.
The scale of the operation
Musk spent approximately $290 million supporting Donald Trump's 2024 presidential candidacy. During the 2026 midterm cycle he has committed an additional $276 million to Republican candidates according to the New York Times. America PAC is currently spending at least $460,000 per week in each of three Pennsylvania swing districts.
The $1 million daily giveaway — presented as random, operated as predetermined, settled as fraudulent — was one piece of a quarter-billion dollar operation to elect the candidates Musk wanted in power.
The settlement
Two lawsuits. Settled quietly in Texas federal court three weeks before the 2026 midterm elections. Terms undisclosed. No admission of wrongdoing publicly stated.
The world's richest man told voters their $1 million giveaway was random. His lawyers said it wasn't. He settled to make it go away.
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