Elon Musk makes ‘rare’ endorsement of Republican-turned Democrat billionaire

Tesla CEO Elon Musk admitted it is “rare” for him to endorse political candidates just before he declared his support for a California Democrat.

The Space X CEO, who has become more vocal with his political opinions since launching his attempt to buy Twitter, tweeted Friday about how “awesome” he finds the candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, Rick Caruso.

“Los Angeles is fortunate to have someone like Rick Caruso running for mayor. He’s awesome,” Musk wrote, referring to the billionaire Republican-turned-Democrat.

The endorsement comes after Musk’s recent comments elaborating on his support for the Republican Party and how he will not be voting for Democrats in this coming election.

In his message on Friday, Musk went on to elaborate on his political leanings.

“It is rare for me to endorse political candidates,” he wrote. “My political leanings are moderate, so neither fully Republican nor Democrat, which I am confident is the case for most Americans. Executive competence is super underrated in politics – we should care about that a lot more!”

Musk’s tweets follow last week’s Twitter poll where he asked his 95.3 million followers, “Who do you trust less? Real question,” giving the options of either “Politicians” or “Billionaires.” Millions of votes have poured in with the majority selecting politicians.

Ranked as the world’s richest man by Forbes, Musk has been more vocal on the social media platform he is trying to acquire. Though he now lives in Texas, the billionaire used to reside in Los Angeles where Caruso is now running.

Caruso, a real estate developer who was also recently endorsed by rapper Snoop Dogg, is already outspending his Democrat rivals for the June 7 primary run for mayor of Los Angeles. The 63-year-old long-time Republican registered as a Democrat in January to run in the crowded race in the uber-liberal city.

“He’s campaigning to tackle LA’s surging homelessness and crime, vowing to create 30,000 beds for the unsheltered while hiring 1,500 additional police and 500 sanitation workers to clean up the streets,” Bloomberg reported. “He’s flooded media with ads, lending his campaign $33.5 million of his $3.7 billion fortune built from developing luxury malls, apartments and hotels.”

Longtime Democratic Rep. Karen Bass has come out as Caruso’s main rival in the all-party Los Angeles primary.

“The fact that he’s had to spend so much money, and yet I’m still in the race, and we’re running neck-and-neck, and he’s spent — I don’t know how much it is now,” Bass told Politico. “To me, that says the Angelenos aren’t going for it and people in this city do not want someone to purchase the mayor’s office.”

A former speechwriter for President Joe Biden believes Caruso has a message that is resonating with voters and his money is allowing him to get that message out more aggressively.

“You can spend a lot of money, but if you don’t have the right message, you’re going to fail. But Caruso has a message that resonates. Karen Bass also has a message that resonates, too, but she doesn’t have as much money,” said Mathew Littman, who supports Bass.

Meanwhile, Musk’s comments about the mayoral race and “executive competence” generated some discussion on Twitter.

Frieda Powers

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles