Elon Musk makes endorsement for US midterms
Twitter owner Elon Musk has urged independent voters in the US to back the Republican Party on the eve of Tuesday’s midterm elections, arguing that “shared power” is the best way to keep both parties in check.
In a tweet addressing “independent-minded voters” on Monday, Musk wrote that he “recommends voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic.”
The billionaire Tesla CEO reasoned that “shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties.”
In a follow-up tweet, Musk said that since “hardcore” Republicans and Democrats “never vote for the other side,” independent voters are “the ones who actually decide who’s in charge.”
Musk has previously donated to both Republicans and Democrats and has labeled himself everything from a “socialist” to a “moderate” to “socially liberal and fiscally conservative.”
He had previously vowed to vote Republican in May. At the time, he acknowledged that he had “voted overwhelmingly for Democrats” in the past.
“I’m not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear. Now this election, I will,” he told the All-In podcast.
Polls suggest the Republican Party is poised to win back control of the House of Representatives in the Tuesday elections, while the Senate is presumed to be a toss-up.
The latest endorsement comes just a week after the South African-born billionaire bought Twitter for $44 billion. Musk said his goal in buying the platform was to protect free speech online, an issue frequently espoused by the GOP.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden lashed out at Musk, saying he now controlled a platform that “spews lies all across the world,” and complained that “there’s no editors anymore in America.”
