WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk has urged Americans to elect a Republican Congress in Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections to challenge President Joe Biden’s Democrats. This is the first time a major social media CEO has explicitly endorsed it.
In a tweet to his more than 110 million followers on Monday, Musk said, “By sharing power, we can curb the worst excesses of both parties. And I encourage you to vote for the Republican Congress.”
Republicans are backed to win a majority in the House in Tuesday’s election, and the Senate is rated a toss-up by independent election forecasters.
Musk, the world’s richest man and Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO, bought Twitter in a $44 billion deal last month, laying off half of its staff and demanding a blue check mark. We have taken drastic measures including planning.
His absolutist stance on free speech has led some groups to warn against rising misinformation and some advertisers to cut spending. A crackdown on users impersonating Musk prompted Twitter to suspend comedian girlfriend Kathy Griffin.
He later added, “I’m open to the idea of voting Democrat again in the future,” noting that he was an independent who had historically voted Democrat.
Musk has been critical of proposals by the Biden administration and Democrats to tax billionaires and give tax breaks to union-built electric cars. Tesla does not have unions at its U.S. factories.
Republicans can use their majority in both houses to shut down the Biden agenda and launch an investigation that could politically damage Biden’s administration and family.
Kyle Condick, of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Mr. Musk’s words were unlikely to affect the outcome of the election.
“It’s hard to imagine that celebrity ‘endorsements’ would have much of an impact on voter behavior,” Kondik said.
When asked about Musk’s comments, White House spokeswoman Carine Jean-Pierre said: “The president has talked a lot about the importance of voting and will keep it that way to avoid getting involved in any conversations about the election. ‘ said.
Former House Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich called Musk’s comments “very encouraging.”
A new line for social media executives
Musk isn’t the only social media executive to take an open political stance.
For example, Sheryl Sandberg, a former executive director of Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O), donated large sums to progressive candidates in 2016 to support Democratic presidential candidate Hillary. supported Clinton.
But like other executives, Sandberg fell short of clearly telling his followers how to vote, and struggled to keep his personal tendencies separate from his work.
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has expressed his estrangement from both Republican and Democratic politics, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife donated to two non-profit organizations that distribute grants to state and local governments to help with elections.
Jessica Gonzalez, co-CEO of advocacy group Free Press, said in a statement to Reuters that Musk’s comments show that he is “a calm CEO that advertisers can trust.” not,” he said.
Last year, Tesla moved its headquarters from its largest market, California, to the more conservative state of Texas. Musk also moved his personal residence from California to Texas, where there is no state income tax.
In April, Musk said on Twitter that he believes platforms “must be politically neutral to be worthy of society’s trust.”
Federal authorities are investigating Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, the company said in a court filing last month. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission have not commented on the potential investigation.read more
Reporting by Susan Heavey, Steve Holland, Kenneth Li, Kanishka Singh, Sheila Dang, Chris Gallagher, and Hyunjoo Jin. Written by Rami Ayyub and Costas Pitas. Edited by Scott Malone and Howard Goller
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