Republican insiders claim that Elon Musk’s America PAC – which the Tesla CEO has donated $75million to in three months – is doing a poor job of turning out voters.
The tech billionaire is hoping to trigger a ‘red wave’ in crucial swing state with the expectation that former President Trump could ride it back into the White House.
DailyMail.com previously reported some of the PAC’s issues, including firing major contractors and struggling to hire door knockers.
Two anonymous sources told Rolling Stone that Trump backers are worried the effort looks less like Trump 2016 and more like Ron DeSantis’ failed primary campaign.
Musk initially supported DeSantis by holding a campaign announcement on X and he has hired many of the Florida governor’s top people to run America PAC.
Republican insiders claim that Elon Musk’s America PAC – which the Tesla CEO has donated $75million to in three months – is doing a poor job of turning out voters
Two anonymous sources said that Trump backers are worried the effort looks less like Trump 2016 and more like Ron DeSantis’ failed primary campaign
The GOP operatives are worried that Musk’s PAC is now resembling the campaign that paid canvassers and failed to drum up much presidential support for the popular governor.
Generra Peck, briefly DeSantis’ presidential campaign manager and former pro-DeSantis Never Back Down Super PAC official Phil Cox are leaders with America PAC.
Conservative activists have complained of a smaller get out the vote effort than expected and others have complained they’re not doing enough in the seven key swing states that may decide the election.
It led one Trump advisor to ask of DeSantis’ campaign: ‘Why in the world would we trust them with anything?’
Part of their complaints has to do with America PAC still attempting to hire people to canvass for Trump.
A major Trump donor reportedly asked: ‘Why isn’t the army already in place?’
Another Republican operative says ‘we’ve been upfront with our concerns’ to Trump himself about the effort.
One Trump advisor says that Trump ‘loves what Elon and his operation are doing in the battleground states, and nobody trying to convince him otherwise lately has had any effect.’
They add that some of those closest to Trump believe criticism of Musk is meant to sow discord within the campaign.
Musk initially supported DeSantis by holding a campaign announcement on X and he has hired many of the Florida governor’s top people to run America PAC
One Trump advisor says that Trump ‘loves what Elon and his operation are doing in the battleground states, and nobody trying to convince him otherwise lately has had any effect’
America PAC has not yet commented on the accusations.
The committee, which was founded by Musk to focus on turning out voters in closely contested states, spent around $72million of those funds in the July-September period alone – according to disclosures filed to the Federal Election Commission.
This is more than any other pro-Trump super PAC that is focused on turning out the vote and Musk, who is the world’s richest man, was the sole donor to the PAC.
However, because the Trump campaign reliant on outside groups for canvassing voters, Musk now has an outsized role in the upcoming election between Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris – in what is expected to be the closest election in decades.
Musk, who voted for President Biden in 2020, has taken a sharp turn to the right in this election and he formally endorsed Trump in July.
He also recently appeared with Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
On Wednesday, the Tesla CEO announced on X that he will be returning to the crucial battleground state to give a ‘series of talks.’
He said people wishing to attend the talks – which will run from tomorrow through Monday – would need to sign a petition on his America PAC website pledging to support ‘free speech and the right to bear arms and have voted in this election.’
The tech billionaire is hoping to trigger a ‘red wave’ in crucial swing state with the expectation that former President Trump could ride the wave back to the White House
On Wednesday, the Tesla CEO announced on X that he will be returning to the crucial battleground state to give a ‘series of talks.’ He said people wishing to attend the talks would need to sign a petition on his America PAC website
The super PAC is hoping to get over one million signatures on the petition and for every registered voter a person refers to sign the petition you will receive $47.
As well hoping to encourage people to vote early before polling day.
America PAC also have feet on the ground in other battleground states – such as Wisconsin – in what the Washington Post has called the most ambitious independent get-out-the-vote operation for the Republican candidate.
The group is focused on encouraging Americans who like Trump but don’t always vote to cast ballots this cycle, a high-risk, labor-intensive strategy by the Trump campaign.
However, despite becoming a crucial player in Trump’s re-election bid they have faced major bumps in the road ranging from entering the election later than other PACs to problems retaining staff and contractors.
Since July, it has fired two major contractors it has hired to knock on doors.
It has also struggled to hire door knockers in several battleground states in part because by the time the PAC became operational many other canvassing groups had already staffed up.
And in states such as Nevada and Arizona – where Summer and Fall temperatures have been blistering – America PAC has struggled to retain the staff needed to go door-to-door in the crucial final weeks of the campaign.
The group had around $4 million left on hand by the end of September, the filings show.
Musk’s donations to America PAC propel him into the exclusive club of Republican mega donors, a list that also includes banking heir Timothy Mellon and casino billionaire Miriam Adelson.
Separate filings earlier on Tuesday showed that Miriam Adelson, the casino magnate, donated $95 million to another pro-Trump super PAC, Preserve America PAC, in the same period.
Despite his apparent damascene conversion to the right of American politics, it was reported earlier this month that Musk has secretly funded a conservative political group for years, well before his public embrace of Trump.
This included a group called Building America’s Future – which has been critical of the Biden administration – which received millions of dollars from Musk in 2022.