Elon Musk will hold a town hall in Delaware County Thursday as his pro-Trump efforts intensify in Pennsylvania
X CEO Elon Musk will be in the Philly suburbs Thursday afternoon.
The richest man in the world will be holding a “town hall” sponsored by his super PAC, America PAC, in Folsom, Delaware County at 4 p.m. On Tuesday night, he pledged to hold a series of talks throughout Pennsylvania, where he's become obsessed with delivering the crucial battleground state’s 19 electoral votes to former President Donald Trump in November, pouring his own time and financial capital into his strategy that's largely based out of a Pittsburgh “war room.”
Musk originally scheduled town halls for Wednesday and Thursday in the Philadelphia area, but it's unclear whether Wednesday's event occurred. The event listing disappeared from America PAC's website late in the day before an exact location or time were provided. Additionally, there was no one present at two different locations that an Inquirer reporter was referred to as possible sites for the Wednesday town hall. The PAC's website now lists an upcoming Philly town hall at an undetermined date and location.
Now that Musk's town hall has found its place in Delco, there's a catch to attending. Participants must be registered to vote in Pennsylvania and must sign a petition, powered by America PAC, where signees pledge their support to the First and Second Amendments. That could then provide the contacts that allow them to be targeted by Musk's PAC to vote for Trump.
Participants will also receive $47 — the number of the next U.S. president — for each registered voter they refer to sign the petition. Musk is locked in on reaching 1 million registered swing-state voters “to sign in support of the Constitution.” This program is open only to swing-state voters.
This requirement raises some red flags, though. It's “likely illegal” because in a federal election, a person cannot give something of value in exchange for an agreement to vote, wrote Richard Hasen, professor of law and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law, in a post on the Election Law Blog.
“It is not necessary to offer that a person vote for or against a particular candidate .... Just like one cannot give out free ice cream or car washes or concert tickets, one cannot give out free admission to hear a speech by a tech entrepreneur,” he wrote.
Hasen's assessment was based off one of Musk's posts on X where he said attendees must have voted in Pennsylvania to be granted event access. The general attendee sign up sheet does not indicate that participants must have voted, but that they are registered to vote.
But either way, it's still likely illegal. “It's inconsistent with what Musk wrote in his tweet, but one cannot provide a benefit for someone to register to vote either,” Hasen said in a statement to The Inquirer.
Musk's $47 payment program — the first payments were delivered in Philly last week — does not appear to violate federal law because he is not paying anyone to vote, Hasen said in an interview with The Guardian.
In addition to the petition, Musk's America PAC — which he recently poured nearly $75 million of his own money into — is also behind a series of robo texts encouraging recipients to cast their mail ballots for Trump.
Ever since Musk jumped for joy on Trump's rally stage in Butler, the billionaire has ramped up his pro-Trump operations and promoted Trump-fueled disinformation regarding Haitian immigrants in the Commonwealth. And as he does that, Musk rephas been trying to build up his cred among swing state voters, emphasizing his University of Pennsylvania roots, chatting with Gov. Josh Shapiro, and swinging a “Terrible Towel” at a Steelers game.
Though, he’s reportedly a fan of both the Steelers and the Eagles.
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