Before the votes were counted in Wisconsin last night, Elon Musk said the race "might decide the future of America and Western civilization" and "the future of the world." Afterwards, he tried to spin the outcome: "I expected to lose, but there is value to losing a piece for positional gain." Nice try, Elon.

This was the most expensive race for a state supreme court seat in American history, with over $100 million spent in total. Musk was responsible for one-fourth of that, sinking $25 million of his own money into the race. Which may have actually been the determinative factor, since many voters were absolutely disgusted with an outsider trying to openly buy a supreme court seat.

It was an important race, since it was a liberal seat up for grabs. If the conservative had won, the balance of Wisconsin's highest court would have flipped to the conservatives. But the liberal candidate romped to an easy 10-point victory last night, cementing liberal control for at least the next few years. Since liberals wrested control of the court back, they have ruled a gerrymandered district map for the state legislature was unconstitutional, which will level the field for Democrats in the state government. They haven't yet ruled on the gerrymandered districts for the U.S. House of Representatives though, where Republicans hold six out of eight seats (in a state that is as close to 50/50 as you can get). If that map gets tossed out too, it could flip two House seats to Democrats -- which would be almost enough for them to regain control of the House again. This was what Musk's overblown hyperbole was referring to.

Musk essentially put himself on the ballot. He made the race into a referendum on him. And Wisconsin voters showed him exactly what they felt about him. Not even jumping around a stage wearing a cheesehead hat helped.

Wisconsin voters turned out in huge numbers yesterday. There is real voter enthusiasm among Democrats right now, which could bode well for them in the midterms next year. People are angry and want to fight back, and what many of them are angriest about is Elon Musk himself. When he made the Wisconsin election all about him it spurred even more enthusiasm from Democratic voters -- which was more than enough to overcome Elon's money. A new poll backs this up -- Musk is only seen favorably by 38 percent of the public, while 60 percent has an unfavorable view of him. He's now so politically toxic that even Donald Trump is reportedly ready to show him the door.

But it's not just Musk and it's not just Wisconsin. Democrats are doing well in other special elections too. They lost two special House elections in Florida yesterday (in very red districts), but not by nearly as much as Trump won these districts. The Democratic candidates overperformed the votes that Kamala Harris got by 17 and 22 percent. That's a big swing, and it's showing up in almost all the special elections that have been held so far, across the country. In the 16 elections held so far this year, Democrats have overperformed in 14 of them. In 10 of them, Democrats overperformed by 10 points or better, and in three of them, they overperformed by over 20 percent. And that doesn't even count the election win in Wisconsin last night (which was for a judicial seat, not a legislative district).

Turnout for these elections is mixed, but in Wisconsin it was pretty huge. Judicial elections are usually pretty sleepy affairs, but the turnout yesterday was 70 percent of the turnout last November -- about what a midterm election usually gets, and far more than judicial elections usually manage in the state. And the liberal candidate overperformed Harris in every single county, even the reddest, most-conservative ones.

Democratic voters are frustrated and angry. They've been venting this anger in town hall meetings and at rallies held by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and this anger has now translated into votes. And Wisconsin sent a very clear signal as well: Elon Musk helps Democratic candidates, when he jumps into a race and tries to buy it. This will likely mean Republican candidates will be very wary about inviting Musk to their rallies from now on.

It does bear mentioning that the midterms are more than a year and a half away, which is an eternity in politics. Anything could happen between now and then, in other words. And winning special elections doesn't always translate into midterm victories either. Even so, things are looking a lot more positive for Democrats right now than for the Republicans. Elon's big investment in the Wisconsin race backfired on him spectacularly, in a very personal way. Democrats can only hope he'll insert his obnoxious self into more races, leaping about a stage in a funny hat. Because the more people see and get to know Musk, the less they like him. And when the race is seen as Musk being on the ballot, Musk loses.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant