A federal judge in Texas has ruled that Elon Musk must face a lawsuit brought by voters who allege they were misled into signing a petition in exchange for a chance to win money from his $1 million-a-day election giveaway.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, based in Austin, said Wednesday that the claims filed by Arizona resident Jacqueline McAferty were plausible enough to proceed as a class action. McAferty alleges that Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, improperly solicited personal information from voters in seven battleground states during the final stages of the 2024 presidential campaign.
According to the complaint, voters were told that recipients of the $1 million awards would be chosen at random, similar to a lottery, though McAferty contends that no genuine opportunity to win existed. Participants were asked to provide names, addresses, emails, and phone numbers as part of the petition process.
Musk, a Texas resident and founder of America PAC, created the group to support President Donald Trump’s successful 2024 campaign. His legal team sought to dismiss the case, arguing that the giveaway was not structured as a lottery. Musk said recipients were described as being “selected to earn” money and expected to act as PAC spokespeople, which he argued made the payments compensation rather than prizes.
Judge Pitman pointed to other promotional language that referred to the funds being “awarded” or “won,” saying it was reasonable for participants to believe they were entering a lottery. He wrote that it was “plausible that plaintiff justifiably relied on those statements to believe that defendants were objectively offering her the chance to enter a random lottery, even if that is not what they subjectively intended to do.”
The ruling also addressed whether voters’ data constituted a form of harm. Pitman noted that an expert in political data brokerage could testify about the value of such information, particularly in battleground states.
The lawsuit was originally filed on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024. One day earlier, a Philadelphia judge declined to block Musk’s giveaway after the city’s top prosecutor argued unsuccessfully that it amounted to an illegal lottery.
Attorneys for Musk and America PAC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case is McAferty v. Musk et al, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, No. 24-01346.
