From CNBC.com…
Elon Musk said twice this week that he plans to vote for Republicans in upcoming elections, even though he says he previously voted for Democrats such as former President Barack Obama.
Musk’s stated political leanings will not surprise people who follow the celebrity CEO’s interactions and proclamations on Twitter and elsewhere.
Behind the scenes, Musk and his biggest companies, SpaceX and Tesla, have worked to influence the U.S. political landscape for years through lobbying and political donations. Combined, SpaceX and Tesla spent over $2 million on lobbying in 2021. They tend to spend on both sides of the aisle.
But Musk has been historically anti-union, opposed to a billionaire’s tax and is a vocal critic of President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said in a September interview with CNBC that Musk approved of his red-state social policies, which have included severe abortion restrictions, book bans that called for LGBTQ memoirs to be removed from school curriculum or libraries, and abuse investigations into families pursuing gender-affirming care for transgender children.
On Wednesday, Musk wrote on Twitter:
