Musk has emerged as a fervent supporter of Alternative for Germany, a far-right, anti-immigrant party that is polling in second place ahead of Germany's parliamentary election.

Musk won AfD a massive new audience, and JD Vance added support. That brought the party outsized attention, but the impact in Germany was limited, data shows.

The leading candidate, Friedrich Merz, a conservative who has adopted many of the AfD’s hard-line positions on immigration, used his closing statement of the debate to promise his voters that he would never allow the AfD into his government. Under him, he said, the firewall would hold.

The AfD’s rise remains a significant concern in German politics, with mainstream parties working to prevent its integration into government. While figures like JD Vance and Elon Musk have expressed strong support for the party,

STORY: While Elon Musk is playing a central role in the U.S. government as head of President Donald Trump's task force to slash government spending, the world’s richest person has also weighed in prominently on politics in Germany.

In the first major European vote since President Trump’s re-election, influence campaigns are targeting Germany from two sides.

The AfD is consistently polling second in Germany and made gains in recent regional elections while its leader was invited by Tesla owner Elon Musk for a live talk where he endorsed them

United States of America tech billionaire, Elon Musk has asked citizens of Germany to vote for Alternative for Germany, AfD, party, in the Sunday, February 23, 2025 general election. Musk, who became US president Donald Trump’s adviser,