Elon Musk's choice to be Travis County District Attorney in Texas lost on Tuesday, hours after his victory Tesla The CEO sent out a company-wide email urging employees to follow in his footsteps.
Jeremy Celestin, a Democratic challenger to incumbent Jose Garza, was defeated early on Super Tuesday, with Garza winning by more than 30 points. Musk appears to have deleted his post on social media site X endorsing Celestine.
Celestin ran on a platform of trying more cases, investing in public safety initiatives and relying on more jury trials. Musk, who moved from California to Texas several years ago and later 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 presidential candidate 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 obtained by CNBC.
From: Elon Musk
To: all
Date: March 5, 2024
This primarily applies if you live in the greater Austin area, but if you do, please vote today for the new district attorney who will actually prosecute crime. It's time for change all over the world!
Musk included a link to his since-deleted post on X, which read: “Sorry to bother everyone with this remark as it applies to people in the greater Austin area, but please go to the polls and vote for a new Attorney General!”
Musk then sent a second company-wide email, which read: “It should be noted that Jeremy Celestin is a moderate Democrat, not a Republican. He is running against a far-left incumbent in the primary.”
Bloomberg was the first to report Musk's emails.
Celestin did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
Tesla operates the largest auto assembly plant in the United States in Travis County, home to Austin.
While Musk has presented himself as an independent voter who has previously supported presidential candidates including his friend Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and Andrew Yang, his public political comments have been moving to the right for years. In a series of posts on X on Tuesday, he accused President Joe Biden of “treason,” without providing evidence.
Musk has backed Texas Republican Mayra Flores in her race for Congress in 2022. He is now backing Marty O'Donnell, the famous video game music composer, who is running as a Republican congressman in Nevada.
“I hope more people like Marty run for office,” Musk wrote on X on Tuesday, recirculating a post from O'Donnell.
Watch: OpenAI responds to Elon Musk
