By Fredreka Schouten, CNN
Elon Musk holds a chainsaw studying “Lengthy dwell freedom, rattling it” through the annual Conservative Political Motion Convention (CPAC) on the Gaylord Nationwide Resort & Conference Heart at Nationwide Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on 20 February 2025.
Picture: Saul Loeb / AFP
Elon Musk is rising as a brand new star in Democratic advertisements and fundraising appeals, as politicians from Virginia to Wisconsin attempt to seize on the tech billionaire’s position in slashing the federal authorities to encourage their voters and donors.
A number one Democratic exterior group just lately launched advertisements in practically two dozen Home races that search to color susceptible GOP incumbents as prepared to chop spending on healthcare for youngsters and the aged to learn billionaires equivalent to Musk.
The advertisements from Home Majority Ahead present pictures of Musk wielding the chainsaw that he held aloft final month through the annual Conservative Political Motion Convention as he celebrated pursuing steep spending cuts by means of the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE).
The Tesla CEO additionally has a starring position in a digital advert marketing campaign from the Virginia Home Democratic Caucus that seeks to increase the get together’s slender majority within the state Home of Delegates.
And he is featured in new commercials that again the liberal candidate operating for an open judicial seat in Wisconsin in an election that would change the ideological stability of the state’s Supreme Courtroom.
The promoting blitz checks whether or not Musk – whom Forbes pegs because the world’s richest particular person – will show a political legal responsibility for Republicans as he continues to take a number one position in chopping the federal workforce and shuttering elements of the federal government.
“He makes for a really handy boogeyman,” stated Lynda Tran, a Democratic strategist and former Biden administration official.
Picture: AFP/ANGELA WEISS
“He is driving the overwhelming majority of headlines proper now. Whether or not you wish to or not, his identify is in your lips as a result of he is taking over a lot of the oxygen within the room.”
Current polling means that Musk is an unpopular messenger for the administration’s cost-cutting strikes – significantly among the many Democratic voters that the get together must prove in off-year elections in locations equivalent to Virginia.
The governor’s seat and state legislative contests are on the poll within the Commonwealth this 12 months, and elected officers there are grappling with the fallout of DOGE-driven cuts to the state’s sizable federal workforce.
Fifty p.c of respondents in a Marist/NPR/PBS national poll carried out in late February had an unfavourable view of Musk, in comparison with 39 p.c who had a beneficial opinion.
A separate poll from Quinnipiac College discovered, total, that 55 p.c of voters assume Musk has an excessive amount of energy in making choices affecting the US.
The ballot additionally revealed a stark partisan divide: Amongst Democrats, 96 p.c stated Musk had an excessive amount of energy; solely 16 p.c of Republicans felt that manner.
Some People see the tech CEO “because the face of anyone who fired their uncle or shifted their cousin’s manufacturing unit abroad,” stated Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist.
“Musk is now the picture of the extremely rich billionaires who’ve a significant position within the Trump administration.”
Elon Musk along with his son X Æ A-Xii be part of US President Donald Trump as he indicators govt orders within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, DC, 11 February, 2025.
Picture: AFP / Jim Watson
Musk didn’t reply to a CNN inquiry.
On Tuesday, throughout his joint tackle to Congress, Trump publicly thanked Musk, who had a first-rate seat within the gallery, for his work to determine and finish “appalling waste.”
Some Democratic lawmakers protested throughout Trump’s speech, together with Texas Rep. Al Inexperienced, who was censured by the Home this week for his actions.
“As thousands and thousands of People witnessed on Tuesday evening, the Democratic Get together is grossly unaligned with the American folks and basically unserious,” Harrison Fields, a White Home spokesman, stated in an e mail in response to a CNN inquiry in regards to the anti-Musk advertisements.
“Ballot after ballot reveals that the mission of DOGE is broadly supported, and Democrats want a actuality examine.”
However in a single signal of the rising backlash over the deep cuts and Musk’s high-profile position in them, Trump this week imposed new limits on Musk’s authority, telling Cabinet members that they’re in command of staffing adjustments on the companies they lead.
The president additionally known as for extra precision within the federal cost-cutting transferring ahead, saying the federal government would use a “scalpel” somewhat than a “hatchet.”
Musk as fundraising, turnout instrument
In Wisconsin, Musk – who spent nearly US$300 million to elect Trump and Republicans in final 12 months’s federal elections – is poised to play an outsized position within the race to fill a single open seat on the seven-member state Supreme Courtroom.
Musk’s political motion committee, America PAC, has spent $3.2m by means of Thursday afternoon to assist the conservative candidate within the race, Brad Schimel, and hit the liberal contender, Susan Crawford, state information present.
One other group that Musk has financially backed prior to now, Constructing America’s Future, has spent one other $2m on promoting and mailers within the race.
The 1 April election, which is predicted to interrupt nationwide spending information for a judicial contest, will decide whether or not liberals retain their 4-3 majority on the courtroom. A Schimel win would flip the courtroom on this perennial swing state to conservatives.
The courtroom will determine whether or not a Nineteenth-century regulation banning most abortions will be enforced and will weigh in on a slew of different points, together with whether or not to overturn a 2011 regulation that ended most collective bargaining rights for Wisconsin public-sector staff and a legal challenge introduced by Musk’s electric-vehicle firm Tesla to a regulation that prohibits carmakers from proudly owning dealerships within the state.
Teams supporting Crawford have begun to hit again with their very own advertisements that includes Musk. The Wisconsin Democratic Get together has launched a seven-figure marketing campaign that features commercials, city halls and a People vs Musk website.
This screenshot illustrates how the “A Higher Wisconsin Collectively Political Fund,” which helps a liberal candidate in a state Supreme Courtroom race, is portraying billionaire Elon Musk in its promoting.
Picture: A Higher Wisconsin Collectively Political Fund / Fb / CNN
One other group supporting Crawford, A Higher Wisconsin Collectively Political Fund, is operating advertisements that accuse Musk of “inflicting chaos” in Washington and making an attempt to “purchase” the Wisconsin courtroom seat.
For its half, Crawford’s marketing campaign has run Fb advertisements that search to make use of Musk’s spending within the race to spice up donations. One advert asks for cash to assist Crawford “combat again, quick” towards the billionaire’s investments.
Crawford marketing campaign spokesman Derrick Honeyman stated donors have stepped up. In a single week, the marketing campaign took in additional than 36,000 particular person grassroots donations – outpacing the 30,000 particular person contributions that Crawford had obtained between launching her marketing campaign final June and the beginning of February.
Crawford additionally has the assist of billionaires in her race. Financier George Soros and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker are among the many latest donors to the Wisconsin Democratic Get together, which has transferred cash to Crawford’s marketing campaign.
“The makes an attempt by Susan Crawford and the Democrats to distract the folks of Wisconsin from her excessive views and the unconventional billionaires funding her are a mockery of hypocrisy,” Schimel marketing campaign spokesperson Jacob Fischer stated in an e mail to CNN.
In Virginia, in the meantime, Democrats are hoping their Musk-focused promoting will sway voters as residents begin to really feel the influence of his efforts to pare down the federal workforce.
Musk “is taking a chainsaw to their lives and livelihoods, and a long time of public service in lots of circumstances,” stated state Delegate Dan Helmer, who chairs marketing campaign efforts for Virginia’s Home Democratic caucus and represents an outer suburb of the nation’s capital.
Individuals collect for a “Save the Civil Service” rally hosted by the American Federation of Authorities Workers (AFGE) exterior the US Capitol on 11 February 2025 in Washington, DC.
Picture: AFP / Getty Photos North America
Final 12 months, Virginia was dwelling to greater than 144,000 federal civilian employees, in response to a tally by the Congressional Analysis Service.
Democrats, who at present management 51 seats within the state Home of Delegates to Republicans’ 49, are in search of to tie Musk to susceptible Republican incumbents.
The Democrats’ targets embody 12 GOP state lawmakers, eight of whom serve in districts that Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, prevailed in final 12 months, Helmer stated.
Harris gained the state total, however Trump made good points in 2024 on his efficiency in 2020 and 2016.
Emphasising Musk “is a manner of speaking with individuals who supported Trump, however are uneasy about (federal) cuts,” stated Kyle Kondik, the supervisor editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball political publication on the Heart for Politics on the College of Virginia.
However there are potential downsides to a Musk-focused marketing campaign for Democrats.
“The chance of going after Musk in politics is that he has a limiteless checking account,” stated a strategist who works with Democrats.
“Does going after him enhance his incentive to throw more cash in?”
Early concentrate on midterms
Earlier this week, Home Majority Ahead – the nonprofit arm of the main tremendous PAC working to elect Democrats to the Home in subsequent 12 months’s midterms – started operating advertisements that accuse Republicans of failing to ship on marketing campaign guarantees to scale back the costs of fundamental items and of planning to chop healthcare spending to learn rich folks equivalent to Musk.
The advertisements search to hyperlink the lawmakers to Musk and a latest vote by Home Republicans to push ahead the president’s agenda – together with extending Trump’s first-term tax cuts – by means of a price range course of.
The Home GOP spending framework seeks to search out $880 billion in healthcare and power financial savings over a decade. Though well being coverage consultants say a logical goal for financial savings can be Medicaid, Republican leaders and Trump insist they don’t assist direct cuts to Medicaid advantages and would discover financial savings by tackling waste, fraud and abuse.
Greater than 1 in 5 People have medical health insurance by means of the federal program.
The brand new Democratic advertisements accuse Republicans of planning to kick people off Medicaid to provide the wealthy tax breaks. The Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee, the marketing campaign arm for Home Republicans, argues that misrepresents the broad advantages of Trump’s tax proposals.
“The Democrat Get together is upstream with no paddle – they don’t have any message, no agenda, and no assist,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella stated in an announcement in regards to the newest advertisements from Democrats.
“Now they’re operating the identical playbook of resorting to shameless fearmongering and outright lies as a result of they’re attempting to cover the truth that they simply voted to lift taxes on hardworking People.”
– CNN
