- Elon Musk wants Rick Scott to be the next Senate majority leader.
- Scott is vying for the position with John Cornyn and John Thune.
- Both Cornyn and Thune are seen as allies of outgoing party leader Mitch McConnell.
Elon Musk is backing Sen. Rick Scott of Florida to lead the GOP in the Senate.
“Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader!” Musk wrote in an X post on Sunday.
This X post came a few hours after he posted a poll to his followers on who should take up the position.
At press time, 1,088,220 votes were registered on Musk’s poll. Scott took 65.5% of the vote, while John Thune of South Dakota and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas got 6.6% and 5.2% respectively. Meanwhile, around 22.6% of the votes on Musk’s poll were for “other” candidates.
Representatives for Musk and Scott did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The race to find a successor for outgoing party leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, comes after the Republican Party clinched control of the Senate last week. The GOP is expected to hold at least 52 Senate seats, giving them a majority in the upper house.
The race for Senate leadership is shaping up to be a three-way fight between Scott, Cornyn, and Thune. Both Cornyn and Thune served as deputies to McConnell when he was Senate majority leader. Thune is currently GOP whip.
GOP senators are set to vote for their next leader in a secret ballot on Wednesday.
President-elect Donald Trump has yet to endorse a candidate, but wrote in an X post on Sunday that the next Senate majority leader should support his recess appointments.
“This is essential. There is no other way,” Musk wrote in his reply.
Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2024
“100% agree. I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible,” Scott wrote in an X post on Sunday.
Scott’s opponents have made similar commitments as well.
“It is unacceptable for Senate Ds to blockade President @realDonaldTrump’s cabinet appointments. If they do, we will stay in session, including weekends, until they relent,” Cornyn wrote on X on Sunday.
“We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s nominees in place as soon as possible, & all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments,” Thune said in an X post on the same day.
Musk was a major contributor to Trump’s presidential campaign.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO held his own rallies and spent just under $119 million on his pro-Trump political action committee, America PAC.
Musk said on Tuesday that his super PAC will continue to play a role in American politics even after the 2024 election. America PAC, he said, is “preparing for the midterms and any intermediate elections, as well as looking at elections at the district attorney level.”
It’s unclear what role Musk will have in Trump’s second administration. Both he and Trump have expressed interest in having Musk lead a government-efficiency commission to cut down on spending.
Last week, Musk joined Trump’s calls with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to several media reports.
According to The New York Times, Trump handed the phone to Musk during his call with Zelenskyy. Musk told Zelenskyy that he would continue to support Ukraine with his Starlink satellites, per Axios.
“We have a new star, a star is born. Elon. He is an amazing guy,” Trump said on Wednesday morning after declaring his electoral victory.
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