WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Just days after taking control of powerful social media giant Twitter Inc, billionaire Elon Musk on Monday recommended that voters pick Republican candidates for Congress in Tuesday's U.S. midterm election.
Musk, who is also Tesla CEO, has faced criticism from some groups over his absolutist stance on free speech. They expect his position to increase the volume of misinformation and hate speech on the platform.
His tweet on Monday represented the first time the head of a major social media platform explicitly endorsed a U.S. political party.
Musk directed his Twitter message to what he called "independent-minded voters," writing: "Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the presidency is Democratic."
President Joe Biden's Democrats face a steep battle to retain control of Congress in Tuesday's vote.
Nonpartisan election forecasters and polls suggest Republicans have a very strong chance of winning a majority in the House of Representatives, with control of the Senate likely to be more closely fought.
"Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who's in charge!", Musk added on Twitter, which he purchased late last month.
Musk has previously said he would vote for Republicans but says he backs moderates on both sides of the aisle.
In April, Musk said that for "Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally."
Musk frequently comments on U.S. politics.
He said previously that he was leaning towards supporting Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis for president in 2024 and that former president Donald Trump was too old to serve as president again.
(Reporting by Scott Malone, Rami Ayyub, Kenneth Li and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Howard Goller)