Elon Musk tweets in support of electing ‘centrist candidates’ not long after supporting gun ownership and saying he’ll vote Republican

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Elon Musk said Wednesday that he backs the election of politicians with centrist positions — capping off a string of posts laying out his political positions. 

Musk, who is seeking to buy Twitter, has waded into a number of partisan debates, including on gun control in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

He has attracted controversy for saying he would vote Republican in the next elections, and for criticizing what he claims are censorious liberal attitudes to free speech. 

“In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican,” he tweeted in May. 

He has trolled Democrats for what he says in their drift towards extreme left-wing positions. At the same time he was touting a plan to strip back content moderation on Twitter in a way critics say would give free rein to right-wing extremists. 

In the wake of last week’s mass shooting in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, he said he supported tighter background checks on purchasing firearms, but said that firearms possession should be legal as a “safeguard” against tyranny.

Musk’s most recent position came from an exchange with Andrew Yang, a former Democratic presidential candidate who is calling for reforms to US democracy, Musk said he wanted to see American political polarization reduced. 

Musk’s response came after Yang asked him to consider letting users rank their preferences when taking part in polls on Twitter.

Musk took it as a cue to discuss electoral politics, writing “Is this a reference to open primaries? I think those are a good idea.”

“I am in favor of anything that would result in more centrist candidates being elected!” wrote Musk.

Musk supported Yang’s presidential candidacy in 2020, when he tried to secure the Democratic nomination but dropped out early due to low levels of support.

Musk was referring to an idea Yang described in a CNN op-ed in October and in his recent book, where he said that US polarization could be dialled down if voters of any party were allowed to vote in a primary.

He held up as a model Alaska, where there is one primary where all voters take part and where the winners are ranked according to how well they do regardless of party. 

Under the present system, US states have a patchwork of arrangements which have changed back and forth over time. In most states, political parties hold primaries where candidates seek to appeal to the party’s most committed voters.