Scoop: GOP candidate with Musk ties scrubs AI from campaign site
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A Republican congressional candidate with ties to Elon Musk running for an open Texas seat has scrubbed from his campaign website a section that promoted AI.
Why it matters: Republican Chris Gober is running in a GOP-friendly district that stretches from west of Austin to near Houston, but data centers and Musk — who is not mentioned on the campaign site — have become radioactive for many voters.
Catch up quick: Gober helped run Musk's efforts to aid Donald Trump's 2024 campaign and is making his first run for Congress.
- The law firm Gober heads has represented an organization tied to a data center project in rural New Mexico.
- A political action committee that opposes AI restrictions has spent about $750,000 in support of Gober's campaign.
State of play: After 11 terms representing the 10th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Austin) is not running for reelection.
- Gober faces Democrat Caitlin Rourk, an Army veteran and former communications specialist for Dell Technologies.
Zoom in: The Gober campaign site has deleted a section titled "Ensuring America's AI Dominance" from a list of priorities.
- "While we must win the global AI race, it is critical that we preserve our rural character and invest in infrastructure that benefits — not burdens — our local communities," that section had said.
- The campaign also deleted a section titled "Defend Election Integrity," that read "Defend election integrity by stopping Democrats' unconstitutional attempts to rig our elections and deny the will of the American people."
Between the lines: A majority of Texans oppose data centers — and corruption is a top concern on voters' minds, according to recent polling by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas.
What they're saying: "We streamlined the website to focus on the issues we're driving in the final weeks of this race, and the ones we think everyone engaged in it should be talking about," Gober campaign manager Zach Gregory tells Axios.
- "This wasn't about removing any issue from the campaign. … We stand by every position we've taken, including on AI, rural communities, infrastructure, and election integrity," Gregory said.
Follow the money: The political action committee of Musk's SpaceX cut a pair of $5,000 checks to his campaign in the third quarter of 2026, per the latest available campaign finance filing.
The other side: Gober "may be uniquely vulnerable given his ties to figures like Elon Musk," according to an internal consultant's memo prepared for the Rourk campaign last month and reviewed by Axios.
- "Nearly half of voters are 'very' concerned when they learn about his ties to Musk, Republican Super PACs, and his lobbying contracts, including a majority of independents and a sizable chunk of Republicans," says the memo by Matt Booker and Francisco Proskauer Valerio of Change Research.
- Rourk is running a campaign spot titled "Elon's Lawyer," to link the pair.
Reality check: The 10th Congressional District heavily favors Republicans. Democrats cast 53,793 votes in the March primary — and Republicans cast 75,204 votes.