California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he’s siding with Elon Musk and SpaceX after the rocket company sued a state commission this week, claiming its political bias against Musk blocked SpaceX from launching more rockets.
“I’m with Elon,” Newsom said on Thursday night, according to Politico. “I didn’t like that.”
Newsom made the comment while he was campaigning for fellow Democrat Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday, SpaceX’s lawsuit claimed the California Coastal Commission “engaged in naked political discrimination” during a recent debate on whether to allow SpaceX to increase rocket launches from 36 to 50 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The lawsuit, as obtained by TheWrap, said commissioners overstepped their limits by considering Musk’s political leanings — violating his First Amendment right to free speech in the process.
“The concern is with SpaceX increasing its launches, not with the other companies increasing their launches,” commissioner Caryl Hart said, according to the lawsuit. “We’re dealing with a company … the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the president race and made it clear what his point of view is.”
Others on the committee agreed with Hart’s sentiment, SpaceX’s lawsuit noted. The lawsuit quoted commissioner Gretchen Newsom, saying Musk hops around the U.S. “spewing and tweeting political falsehoods.”
Gov. Newsom on Thursday said he wasn’t a fan of Musk’s politics being mentioned when considering rocket launches.
“Look, I’m not helping the legal case,” Newsom said. “You can’t bring up that explicit level of politics.”
Newsom — who appointed some of the commission’s members — “broadly agreed” with SpaceX’s lawsuit, according to Politico.
“These are friends of mine that said that,” Newsom said. “These are good commissioners. But you got to call balls and strikes. And trust me, I’m not big on the Elon Musk bandwagon right now. So that’s me calling balls and strikes.”
Musk, for his part, has made it clear he isn’t on the Newsom Bandwagon. The Tesla head honcho, in an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show last week, reiterated that he isn’t a fan of Newsom’s progressive views, calling the governor the “goddamn Joker.”
Earlier this year, Musk said he was moving X and SpaceX’s headquarters from California to Texas. Musk said the “final straw” was when Gov. Newsom signed a bill barring teachers from notifying parents that their kids identified as transgender.
At the same time, Musk has been perhaps Donald Trump’s biggest supporter in recent months. He publicly endorsed the former president after the July assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Since then, Musk’s posted on X — the app he owns — in favor of Trump, hosted a live conversation with him on X Spaces in August and joined the candidate on stage when he returned to Butler earlier this month.
Beyond that, Musk has also put a lot of money into helping Trump get back into the White House. On Tuesday, Musk reported $75 million in contributions to America PAC, his pro-Trump political action committee. America PAC’s website, which includes a picture of Musk in his “dark MAGA” hat, lists a handful of top priorities, including free speech, safe cities and secure borders.
SpaceX’s lawsuit, on top of saying the commission has violated Musk’s free speech rights, said the commission had interfered with national security operations.
“Rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO,” the lawsuit said.
