Republican Congressional candidate Chris Gover speaks at a campaign rally before President Donald Trump at Freeman Coliseum on Wednesday, October 7, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas.
Eric Gay | AP
Two years ago, Chris Gober was leading Elon Musk’s political operation. Now, the former director of Musk’s America PAC and top lawyer is seeking a Congressional seat representing Texas’ 10th District, home to parts of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s growing business empires.
With less than a week until Election Day, Mr. Gover is not necessarily touting his ties to the world’s richest man as he seeks to secure a Republican victory in an open seat that Republicans are certain to win.
District 10 is home to TerraFab, a vast artificial intelligence chip factory that Musk’s company is building. tesla and space x. The area also cuts through the Pfluger Building, home to the offices of Musk’s tunneling venture, The Boring Company.
Mr. Gober hasn’t talked about Mr. Musk’s work, a key pillar of his campaign, but his Democratic opponent, Caitlin Rourke, hammered home it in a new ad.
“Elon Musk already had MAGA extremist Chris Gober as his lawyer. Now he wants to put him in Congress,” the ad audio says. “It’s clear who Chris Gover is going to serve in Congress, and it’s not us.”
Gover’s campaign website touts his support from President Donald Trump, saying in its “Key Issues” section that if elected, the candidate “will stand strong for President Trump and deliver on his America First policies.”
But as of Tuesday, neither Mr. Musk’s name nor the name of his America PAC was listed on his campaign website.
“My work with America PAC has been widely publicized and is not a secret,” Gober told CNBC in an email from campaign manager Zach Gregory.
“I have been discussing this campaign as one of many examples of fighting the toughest battles at the highest levels,” he said.
Gover said his campaign site did not mention Musk and America PAC because it was updated in the final weeks of the election “to focus on the priorities we are trying to deliver for the people of Texas’ 10th Congressional District.”
SpaceX PAC supports Gober
SpaceX’s political action committee donated $10,000 to Gover’s campaign during this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Axios first reported the filing on Monday.
SpaceX will aggressively expand into AI in 2026.
The unit became the company’s largest business unit, with third-quarter sales soaring ninefold to $7.56 billion from $813 million a year earlier, according to the company’s Oct. 20 earnings report.
Amid opposition to data centers used for AI, Gover’s campaign website removed a section titled “Securing America’s AI Advantage,” Axios reported in a Monday article.
Gober told CNBC that the section’s removal does not reflect a change in his position.
“We believe Texas should lead the nation in AI and innovation, and that growth must work for the communities that make it possible,” he said. “That means protecting water and power supplies, building the infrastructure to support them, and ensuring rural communities share in the benefits.”
Aerial view of the Boring Company facility near Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Snailbrook town site in Bastrop, Texas, on April 21, 2025.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Rourke criticized Gover’s friendship with the AI industry and Musk, saying, “There are a lot of things about his history that are really concerning.”
“I think he’s trying to bury his head in the sand and wait a little bit until Election Day, hoping people don’t notice,” said Rourke, a former U.S. Army veteran. Dell Technologies an employee told CNBC.
“If he wins a seat in Congress, he’s going to sit there for the next 10, 20, 30 years and vote to tie taxpayer money to the defense of SpaceX and transportation to Tesla, and vote against things like subpoenaing Elon Musk,” she said, alluding to bipartisan concerns about Democrats’ demands for an investigation into Musk over SpaceX’s dealings in Ukraine and his work at the Department of Government Efficiency. Federal workforce reductions.
Musk did not respond to an email requesting comment.
Attacks against AI are bidirectional within a campaign. Mr. Gober’s campaign claimed in YouTube ads and in emails to CNBC that Mr. Rourke derives most of his household income from investments in data centers.
Caitlin Rourke, Democratic candidate for Texas’ 10th Congressional District.
Provided by: Caitlin Rourke Campaign
Rourke said the accusations were laughable.
Rourke said he owns some Dell stock that he acquired through employee stock grants while working for the company from 2021 to 2025. Roque said if elected to the House of Representatives, she would sell those stocks, which are not a source of household income for her.
He said if elected, he would focus on “ending forever wars, including President Trump’s reckless war on Iran” and “fighting special interests.”
Gober says he’s ‘proud’ of his career
“I’m going to make decisions based on what’s best for my constituents. Well,” Gober told CNBC when asked about his opponents’ accusations that he would work for Musk more than Texans.
“I’m proud of my career and I’m not going to hide it,” he said. “I have worked at the highest levels of politics and public policy, and I intend to turn that experience into an asset to the people of Texas’ 10th Congressional District.”
Mr. Gover’s law firm, Rex Politica, is representing Mr. Musk and the US PAC in two proposed class action lawsuits in federal court in Austin alleging that the company defrauded people in battleground states by promising $1 million in prizes each day during the 2024 election to randomly selected people who signed petitions in support of the U.S. Constitution and conservative causes.
At a hearing in a Philadelphia courtroom on the eve of Election Day on Nov. 4, 2024, Gober revealed that the 18 winners were “not chosen at random, as in the lottery, but instead the super PACs choose the winners based on who they believe will be effective political spokespersons,” NBC News reported at the time.
Rex Politica, other lawyers from Musk and America PAC, and the plaintiffs’ lawyers told the Texas judge overseeing the case in Austin on October 15 that they had agreed to settle the civil suit.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, and Musk’s PAC denied any wrongdoing.
Gover told CNBC on Tuesday that he is “actively working” to comply with all rules of the House Ethics Committee, and that if elected he would “withdraw from all ongoing representation work” because members are prohibited from practicing law outside of limited pro bono work.
The mask factor in race could have an impact either way.
It remains to be seen whether Mr. Musk will be a boon or a detriment to Mr. Gover’s campaign.
Ben Leff, CEO of research firm Verasight, told CNBC in an email that his company has found that Mr. Musk is “judged by Americans through a partisan lens.”
An April Verasight survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that 74% of Democrats had a somewhat or very unfavorable view of masks, compared to 53% of independents and 17% of Republicans.
85% of Americans who identify as members of President Trump’s MAGA movement believe that Mr. Musk is the movement’s representative.
“A close race could pose additional challenges for candidates backed by or associated with Musk in an already weak election cycle for Republicans,” Lev said.
