MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pa.—At another solo campaign event in Pennsylvania for former President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk told more than 1,000 attendees that Trump’s re-election is “incredibly important.” He urged voters to register in the swing state before the Oct. 21 deadline.
On October 17, Musk increase the $47 voter registration or referral reward, which his political action committee (PAC) offers in all battleground states, to $100 in Pennsylvania alone. To qualify for the payment, the voter must also sign a petition to support the First and Second Amendments of the United States Constitution.
Musk’s town hall Friday at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center was the second in a series of events to support Trump. A Thursday University of Massachusetts and YouGov survey showed Vice President Kamala Harris with a one-point lead. Without winning the Keystone State, both candidates’ path to the White House will be more difficult.
Musk explained why he became politically active during this general election: “I think elections are a very important thing. It’s really the difference between freedom and opportunity or oppression and communism, essentially. “That’s what we’re seeing.”
He encouraged Trump supporters to be “loud and proud” and put up signs in blue areas of the Commonwealth, which is concentrated in and around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
A common theme of Friday night’s discussion was Musk’s potential work in the Trump administration to improve government efficiency. Trump has repeatedly said at rallies that he wants to reduce regulations to help economic and business growth.
Musk said he would “reduce much of the government workforce” by giving laid-off government workers a two-year severance package so they could “find something else to do.”
He also liked an idea proposed by attendees: using artificial intelligence to track laws and regulations and government spending.
Many attendees admired the products and technology that Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX companies have developed. On October 13, SpaceX’s reusable Starship rocket, key to NASA’s plan to build a permanent base on the Moon, successfully returned to the launch pad for the first time.
Jo-Ann Bonanno, executive assistant, said she is “very intrigued by Musk. I think he is brilliant and contributes a lot to today’s society with his innovation and technology,” he told The Epoch Times’ half-sister, NTD Television. “The fact that he aligned himself with Trump… is a great thing.”
Bonanno attended Friday’s town hall. “He brings a lot of hope and opportunity for young people… People don’t have enough things to look forward to, ways to make money or new ways to do business.”
Purav Barot, a 29-year-old who works in technology sales, said he supports Trump because he is “basically tired of the current environment, high inflation prices and how everything has become expensive.” He said he votes based on policies and past achievements, not personalities.
“It is one of the elections in which every vote matters, every voice matters,” he shared with NTD.
During his first Pennsylvania town hall on Oct. 17 in Delaware County, Musk described the close race in the battleground state: “I think we see this election being decided in Pennsylvania, it could be 10,000 votes, it could be 1,000 votes.” . , it could be 10 votes. It could be a very small number, so each incremental person is a big difference.”
He added on October 18: “We’re doomed if Trump doesn’t win.”
After Friday’s event, Dana Medwid, the owner of a construction company, told NTD that she is impressed by Musk’s “knowledge of politics, his genius, his brilliance and everything he talks about the future.”
“He also said something very important: that our country will be doomed and the world will be doomed if something doesn’t change,” he said. “And I agree with him.”
Musk’s American PAC has contributed more than $75 million to the Trump campaign between July and September. According to the PAC’s website, Musk has another town hall in Harrisburg on Saturday and a pending event in Pittsburgh.
The Commonwealth currently has 9 million registered voters, of whom 44 percent are Democrats, 40 percent are Republicans, and 16 percent are independents.
Although registered Democrats still outnumber Republicans by 300,000, Republican registrations are increasing. Between 2020 and 2024, registered Republicans increased by 130,000, while Democrats decreased by 220,000.
Last year, 5,000 more Republican voters than Democrats registered through Pennsylvania’s new expedited registration process when people get a new or renewed driver’s license.
Another billionaire, Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban, is campaigning for Democrats.
He joined Harris in Wisconsin on Thursday and is scheduled to speak again at her rally in Arizona on Saturday. On Sunday, Cuban will campaign with second gentleman Douglas Emhoff in Michigan.
In contrast to Musk’s argument that the country is doomed without Trump as the next president, Cuban’s tone was more about having fun and “annoying Donald Trump a little.” He said Trump doesn’t understand how tariffs work, referring to Trump’s plan to impose tariffs of more than 60 percent on Chinese goods.
