German far-right party candidate thanks Musk after state election win
The Hill · C · trust 41/100
Comments: by Elliott Davis - 09/07/26 11:56 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Elliott Davis - 09/07/26 11:56 AM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING A German far-right political party’s candidate singled out tech billionaire Elon Musk after a state election victory on Sunday.
“Thank you, @elonmusk, for your support and for your clear and highly important perspective on the political developments of our time — including here in Germany,” Ulrich Siegmund, of the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, wrote Sunday on the social platform X .
Siegmund’s post was made in response to Musk writing “Gut gemacht,” which translates to “good job” in English.
The AfD won the regional election in Saxony-Anhalt, a German state, in a landslide but fell just short of a majority, according to The Associated Press. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz later said his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party was “deeply shocked” by “the most serious election defeat that the CDU has had for years, for decades.”
President Trump on Sunday had posted an image to his Truth Social platform showing the AfD’s improved polling over the years.
Musk has long been supportive of the antimigration and Russia-friendly party. During a virtual appearance at a rally for the AfD in January 2025, the Tesla and SpaceX founder said he viewed the party as the “best hope for Germany,” urging German voters to “move beyond” the “past guilt” of older generations in a reference to the country’s Nazi past.
The tech mogul’s comments came after Musk wrote an op-ed for a German news outlet expressing his support for the AfD.
After Germany’s government labeled the party as an “extremist” political group in some regions of the country earlier last year, both Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio blasted the move . Rubio described it as “tyranny in disguise” in a May 2025 social media post.
Days later, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.) asked then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to refrain from sharing intelligence with the German domestic intelligence agency until the AfD was treated as a “legitimate opposition party” and not as a “right-wing extremist organization.”
The AfD has rejected any accusations of being undemocratic or even anticonstitutional, the AP reported .
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