Musk the surrogate: The tech titan will hit the campaign trail for Trump

Tech billionaire Elon Musk will ramp up his personal efforts to elect Donald Trump in the remaining weeks of the election — including making visits to Pennsylvania to campaign for the former president.

Musk intends to appear in the swing state in the four weeks leading up to Nov. 5, according to a person who has spoken with his team and was granted anonymity to speak freely because they weren’t authorized to do so. He is expected to make the stops with the backing of America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC he formed. He may make other appearances in the state independent of his super PAC — as he did on Sunday evening, when he showed up to the Pittsburgh Steelers game wearing a MAGA hat and was greeted by Steelers owner Art Rooney II, among others.

Musk, the world’s richest person, took his most aggressive steps yet over the weekend to personally show his support for Trump. Musk appeared at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, where during a brief speech he lavished praise on the former president and urged attendees to “vote, vote, vote.” After the rally, he joined Trump backstage where he participated in a tele-town hall event.

Also over the weekend, Musk changed his profile icon on his account on X to an image of him wearing a black MAGA hat and added to his bio a link to the America PAC account. He also repeatedly promoted posts from the PAC, which is running a pro-Trump voter turnout effort with financial backing from Musk and his associates.

And on Sunday afternoon, Musk unveiled a new program in which he promised to pay $47 to people who register voters in seven swing states — Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Musk has a history of using reward initiatives: He recently unveiled a referral program for Tesla, the electric car company he owns. In the program, buyers and their referrers are awarded $500 or $1,000 in credits which can be used toward Tesla products.

But those close to Musk say his primary focus is on Pennsylvania, a state strategists from both parties see as perhaps the most consequential in determining the outcome of the election. Musk, who also owns X and the space rocket manufacturing program SpaceX and is worth an estimated $260 billion-plus, has ties to the state, having attended the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to the Steelers, he is also a Philadelphia Eagles fan. During the 2023 Super Bowl between the Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, he was spotted in a box seat with media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

A Musk representative declined to comment on his future campaign plans.

Trump and Musk have had a complicated relationship. In 2022, Musk said Trump should “sail into the sunset” rather than run for president again; Trump, meanwhile, called the entrepreneur a “bullshit artist.” Last year, Musk forged an alliance with Trump primary rival Ron DeSantis, joining the Florida governor for his glitch-laden campaign launch on the X platform. But Trump and Musk have grown close this year.

The tech billionaire formally endorsed Trump following the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump’s life, and in August, Musk hosted a live-streamed event with Trump on X. Trump has raised the prospect of giving Musk a job in a future administration, calling him “brilliant.” Musk, in response, said he was “willing to serve.”

How much money Musk has given to America PAC is not publicly known. Those figures will become clear on Oct. 15, when America PAC will detail its spending and contribution records. But people familiar with the group say they expect significant resources to be donated from Musk, who has been intimately involved with its activities.