Billionaire tech magnate Elon Musk is drawing attacks from top Democrats and concern from election watchdogs as he barnstorms for former President Trump in a crucial swing state.
Over the past week, Musk has traversed the state of Pennsylvania, holding four town halls in as many days, and launched a controversial $1 million daily giveaway to registered swing state voters through the end of the election.
Musk’s campaigning has spurred mockery and disdain from Democrats, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who mocked him for “skipping like a dips—” and supplanting Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as Trump’s running mate.
“That guy is literally the richest man in the world, spending millions of dollars to help Donald Trump buy an election,” Walz, Vice President Harris’s running mate, said at a rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) similarly took aim at Musk on Monday, accusing him of “dangling a million bucks to those of us and many of us who are struggling to make ends meet, if they dance for him.”
“They’re laughing at us,” she said at a United Auto Workers (UAW) event in Pennsylvania, referring to Musk and Trump. “They think we are the suckers, and they said that publicly. That’s why Elon Musk thinks your vote can be bought with a dollar.”
The tech mogul’s $1 million giveaways have also drawn scrutiny from campaign finance and legal experts, who have questioned whether they could violate election law.
The DOJ reportedly sent a letter to Musk’s pro-Trump super PAC, America PAC, warning that its giveaways could violate federal laws against paying people to register to vote.
Adav Noti, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, noted in a statement Monday that it is illegal to buy votes or voter registration and that the Department of Justice (DOJ) “has the power to enforce these important laws through civil or criminal action.”
“Elon Musk’s behavior is just the latest — and most egregious — example of wealthy special interests distorting our political process at the expense of everyday voters,” Noti said.
“It is extremely problematic that the world’s richest man can throw his money around in an attempt to directly influence the outcome of this election,” he added. “This is not how our democracy should work.”
While some of the super PAC’s boundary-pushing voter turnout tactics have faced backlash, political experts say Musk’s efforts to turn out the base could be crucial to boosting Trump.
“This is, at the end of the day, one giant turnout operation,” Republican strategist Alex Conant told The Hill.
“There are very few undecided voters, and so whichever campaign does the better job of getting their low-propensity voters to the polls is going to win,” he continued. “To the extent that Musk is all in on turning out those voters who think he’s fantastic and support Trump, that can only help.”
Musk’s America PAC, which received $75 million from the billionaire, has played a central role in the Trump campaign’s get-out-the-vote efforts in swing states.
However, in the final weeks leading up to the election, Musk has turned his attention to Pennsylvania in particular — the state that many pollsters and analysts believe could decide the race.
A recent Decision Desk HQ analysis gave the winner of Pennsylvania an 85 percent chance of securing the presidency.
Trump and Vice President Harris are currently locked in an extremely tight race. The Hill-Decision Desk HQ’s polling average shows Harris up by 0.9 percent. However, Trump overtook Harris on Sunday as the slight favorite to win the election for the first time since the vice president joined the race in July.
Trump is also slightly favored to win Pennsylvania in The Hill-Decision Desk HQ’s forecast, although several recent polls have showed Harris leading the former president in the Keystone State.
Musk has seemed to grasp the central role of Pennsylvania in recent weeks, holding events from Philadelphia to Harrisburg to Pittsburgh and urging Republicans to register and turn out to vote.
“I can’t emphasize enough that Pennsylvania is, I think, the linchpin in this election,” he said during his first town hall in Folsom, Pa. “This election, I think, is going to decide the fate of America, and along with the fate of America, the fate of Western civilization.”
The level of enthusiasm among Trump voters in the state could be key with the race in a dead heat, said Amy Dacey, executive director of the Sine Institute of Policy & Politics at American University.
“People who say they’re going to vote or people who have registered to vote, it doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to vote,” Dacey told The Hill. “A lot of this is just making sure those voters that you have committed to you are getting to the polls.”
“That could certainly be something that they’re trying to accomplish with [Musk], to kind of rally that base,” she added.
Musk brings out “folks who might be wobbly voters, potential voters, potential nonvoters, and gets them to get out and vote for Trump,” said Republican strategist Brian Seitchik, noting that the billionaire is “more of a get-out-the-vote tool than a persuasion tool.”
The tech mogul has rapidly become a central figure in the Trump campaign. Since he first endorsed the former president in July, the billionaire has frequently used his massive platform on X, the social media site he owns, to boost Trump and criticize Harris.
He hosted Trump for a live interview on X in August, during which the pair talked for roughly two hours about everything from the assassination attempt on the former president to the economy and immigration.
Earlier this month, Musk joined Trump for a rally in Butler, Pa. — the site of the attempt on Trump’s life and the event that sparked the billionaire to share his endorsement.
Musk, who was literally leaping with excitement beside Trump, declared himself to be “not just MAGA” but “dark MAGA.” Shortly after, he announced he would be making more appearances throughout the Keystone State.
“It’s rare to see billionaires go so all in for a political candidate,” Conant said. “It’s not unusual for them to write checks, but it’s incredibly unusual for them to basically set up their own campaigns and hit the trail themselves.”
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) voiced concerns earlier this month about Trump’s popularity in his home state and Musk’s appeal as he campaigns for the former president.
“Most endorsements don’t count for much in this business, but Musk is … incredibly popular, and he has an appeal to a demographic that Democrats have struggled with,” Fetterman told “The Hill Sunday.”
“To some people that they see him as, that’s Tony Stark,” he added, referring to the alias for the fictional Marvel superhero Iron Man. “He’s the world’s richest man, and he’s undeniably a brilliant guy.”
Seitchik suggested that Musk’s unique position as a smart and exceptionally wealthy Trump backer could create a “permission structure” for others to vote for the former president.
“[He] lets folks who view themselves as educated and wealthy and smart — and despite many forces out there saying no smart, same person can vote for Trump, which is obviously not true — he counters that and says, ‘Look, I’m the richest man in the world, one of … the smartest men in the world,’ and he is such an enthusiastic Trump supporter,” Seitchik said.
“I’ve got to believe that that gets some of those college educated suburban voters, who may or may not have bought Teslas but certainly admire Musk and what he’s accomplished, gets them out to the polls come Election Day,” he added.
