Elon Musk urges Tesla employees to vote out Austin's Soros-backed DA: report

Musk called on Austin voters to oust DA Jose Garza in the Democratic primary on Super Tuesday

Tesla CEO Elon Musk worked to rally Austin, Texas, voters to oust the county's George Soros-backed District Attorney Jose Garza on Super Tuesday, and reportedly even urged his own employees at the electric vehicle giant's headquarters in the area to pull the lever for a candidate that will "actually prosecute crimes."

Musk took to his social media platform X Tuesday morning, calling on voters in the greater Austin area to "please go to the polls and vote for a new" Travis County DA, sharing a post from Garza's primary challenger, fellow Democrat Jeremy Sylestine.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, looks on as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023.  (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters Photos)

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Then Bloomberg reported Tuesday afternoon that Musk had sent an email to Telsa employees that day urging those in Austin to vote out "far left" Garza, calling on them to instead vote for Sylestine, whom he described as a moderate Democrat who will "actually prosecute crimes."

Garza took office in deep blue Travis County in 2021 after a campaign backed by progressive billionaire Soros, pledging to "reimagine" criminal justice and prosecute police officers. 

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But Garza's critics — including Sylestine, who previously worked in Garza’s office before starting his own practice — argue that Garza’s office has not advocated for victims of crime and has promoted policies that make the city less safe.

In making his case on X Tuesday, Sylestine emphasized that "More than anything else, the story I am trying to tell is that the promise of standing with victims and survivors has not been met," by Garza's office. 

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"The stories we're bringing forward including domestic violence and child abuse cases ending in poor results are real," Sylestine wrote. "They are horrifying stories."

Sylestine also pointed to a backlog of 6,000 cases that had accumulated under Garza and accused the DA of "run[ing] off 75 experienced felony prosecutors" on his watch. 

Jose Garza in Austin, Texas

District Attorney Jose Garza in Austin, TX on Thursday, November 18, 2021.  (Spencer Selvidge/Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Garza has defended his record as district attorney, saying that he is "doing exactly what Travis County voters elected him to do, fixing our broken criminal justice system by standing with survivors, working to end the excessive use of force by police, and prioritizing treatment over incarceration for nonviolent drug offenses."

FOX News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.