Elon Musk, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO, has endorsed Rick Caruso, the businessman, to be the next mayor of Los Angeles. The 63-year-old is a member of the Democratic party and the chief executive officer of Caruso, the real-estate company. 

“Los Angeles is fortunate to have someone like Rick Caruso running for mayor. He’s awesome”, Musk tweeted, before outlining his political approach in another post. 

“It is rare for me to endorse political candidates. My political leanings are moderate, so neither fully Republican nor Democrat, which I am confident is the case for most Americans. Executive competence is super underrated in politics – we should care about that a lot more!”, the 50-year-old said. 

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The entrepreneur’s endorsement comes four days before the California primaries and if Caruso wins the race to be LA’s new mayor, he will take over from Eric Garcetti.

Responding to Musk’s show of confidence, Caruso thanked the innovator and expressed he’d be honoured to become the city’s next mayor. 

“Elon, thank you for your support. L.A. is the greatest city in the world. I would be honoured to be her next mayor and serve the city that I love”, he said. 

Tuesday’s ballot will see nine candidates contesting. Initially, there were 12, but three have withdrawn from the race. Of those who’ve stepped back, councilmen Joe Buscaino and Ramit Varma, have both endorsed Caruso. 

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However, Mike Feuer, the city attorney gave his endorsement to Congresswoman Karen Bass.

Garcetti had first been elected as mayor in 2013 and has finished his term in office. His next step will probably be as the US ambassador to India, once President Joe Biden approves the nomination. 

Musk, for his part, made a public show of switching over to voting Republican but has since then returned to his stance of being a centrist, and is at present backing a former Republican-turned-Democrat to be LA’s next mayor.