Elon Musk Says He'd Back Trump Rival Ron DeSantis If He Runs For President

Twitter owner Elon Musk said Friday night that he would back Ron DeSantis , Florida’s Republican governor, if he decides to run for president.

“My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist,” Musk wrote in one of a series of tweets. “I had hoped that would [be] the case for the [President Joe] Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far.”

The billionaire noted that he was a “significant supporter of the [Barack] Obama-Biden presidency” and “reluctantly” voted for Biden over Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

When a Twitter user asked if he would back DeSantis in the next presidential race, Musk answered simply: “Yes.”

Musk indicated in June that he was already leaning toward supporting DeSantis for the presidency. Trump is the only major candidate to date who has announced a 2024 White House run.

The Twitter CEO also wrote Friday about allowing Trump back on Twitter after he was suspended for glorifying violence before and during last year’s insurrection in Washington. Trump has yet to post a tweet since the reinstatement last week.

“I’m fine with Trump not tweeting,” Musk said on Twitter. “The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service. Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America.”

DeSantis hasn’t yet declared that he’s running for president, though he is expected to. According to a Politico source , he’s going to bide his time and wait for Trump to “punch himself out.”