Musk backs McCarthy in Speaker bid

Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Thursday that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) “should be Speaker” as the House enters its third day of voting for the chamber’s top spot.

The House has been gridlocked as McCarthy has repeatedly fallen short of the necessary votes to become Speaker. About 20 Republicans have thrown their support behind other GOP members during the first six rounds of voting, and McCarthy can only afford to lose about four Republicans.

Musk’s comments come a day after former President Trump urged the GOP to unite behind McCarthy, to little avail.

McCarthy and Musk have regularly supported each other. Musk spoke at a Republican retreat hosted by McCarthy in August, where the two men led a closed-press “fireside chat” with supporters, according to Fox News.

Musk, who has donated to both Republicans and Democrats, has also donated to McCarthy’s campaigns for Congress five times since 2011, according to Federal Elections Commission data.

McCarthy has also praised Musk in the past, commending him for joining Twitter’s board in comments to The Hill in April.

“Elon believes in freedom. Elon is an entrepreneur. Such an American success story,” McCarthy said at the time.

McCarthy also defended Musk in November, saying that the government should “stop picking on Elon Musk” over his handling of Twitter and promising the GOP would bring about change.

“We’ll no longer let government go after you simply because of their political views,” he said to reporters outside the White House in November.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are complaining that the Speaker standoff is blocking the House from getting on with its work, as members cannot be sworn in until a Speaker is elected.

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