Elon Musk’s pick to be district attorney of Texas’ Travis County lost on Tuesday, hours after the Tesla CEO sent a companywide email urging employees to follow his lead.
Jeremy Sylestine, a Democratic challenger to the incumbent José Garza, was defeated early on Super Tuesday, with Garza winning by over 30 points. Musk appears to have deleted his post on social media site X endorsing Sylestine.
Sylestine ran on a platform to prosecute more cases, invest in public safety initiatives and rely on more jury trials. Musk, who relocated from California to Texas several years ago and subsequently moved Tesla’s headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin, has been increasingly vocal about politics and reportedly met with former President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend.
Texas is also home to a major SpaceX facility and The Boring Company, two of Musk’s other companies.
Musk wrote Wednesday on X that he will “not directly donate money” to either candidate for president in 2024, but he and his companies have contributed to political action committees and campaign committees in the past, according to records posted on OpenSecrets.org.
Here’s what Musk wrote to employees on Tuesday in an email that was obtained by CNBC.
From: Elon Musk
To: All
Date: March 5, 2024
This mainly applies if you live in the greater Austin area, but, if you do, please vote today for a new district attorney who will actually prosecute crime. High time for change throughout the world!
Musk included a link to his since-deleted post on X, which said, “Sorry to bother everyone with this note as it applies to people in the greater Austin area, but please go to the polls and vote for a new District Attorney!”
Musk then sent a second companywide email, which read, “Worth noting that Jeremy Sylestine is a moderate Democrat, not a Republican. He is running against a far left incumbent in the primary.”
Bloomberg was first to report on Musk’s emails.
Sylestine didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Tesla operates its largest U.S. vehicle assembly plant in Travis County, home to Austin.
While Musk has presented himself as an independent voter who previously supported presidential candidates including his friend Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and Andrew Yang, his public political commentary has been moving rightward for years. In a stream of posts on X on Tuesday, he accused President Joe Biden of “treason,” without providing evidence.
Musk supported Texas Republican Mayra Flores in her congressional race in 2022. He’s now backing Marty O’Donnell, a composer of music for popular video games, who’s running as a Republican for Congress in Nevada.
“I hope more people like Marty run for office,” Musk wrote on X on Tuesday, recirculating a post from O’Donnell.