Elon Musk, who has already pledged eye-popping sums to support former President Donald Trump’s re-election bid, is hiring his own Republican political operative to push his agenda further.
Chris Young, a Republican political strategist, will join Musk’s personal team, seemingly in an effort to expand the billionaire’s far-right field organizing and get-out-the-vote efforts.
Young — a senior political official at PhRMA who came up under Louisiana former Gov. Bobby Jindal and worked as the national field director for the Republican National Committee — has directed efforts to turn out voters, advise deep-pocketed donors and wield political power for conservatives for a decade.
The strategist role will allow Musk to more closely direct the America PAC, a group he finances that was caught scraping user data and misdirecting swing state residents attempting to register to vote earlier this year.
Musk, whose Tesla and SpaceX companies have faced hurdles from federal safety and labor regulators in recent months, pledged $45 million a month to boost Trump’s campaigning efforts and endorsed the former president in a post to his social media platform X in July.
Per the New York Times, Musk sees field organizing as a must in the upcoming race, dismissing traditional advertising and urging the PAC he funds to directly engage voters ahead of the November race.
For the South African-born Musk, the stakes in November are high. Not only has the executive blasted liberal positions on social issues — making anti-trans comments about his daughter and platforming racist rhetoric — he’s also leading a charge against the tax increases and increased regulatory scrutiny on his various companies.