A California software magnate is ready to spend potentially millions of his own cash on a quest to bring down Elon Musk, all as part of a low-key Senate campaign.
Dan O’Dowd, the founder, and CEO of Green Hills Software and a self-proclaimed Santa Barbara billionaire is targeting Musk and Tesla over self-driving technology. Green Hills makes software that competes with Tesla’s, and O’Dowd has called Musk’s electric vehicles inefficient and dangerous.
“Watch this #FSD@Tesla behaving badly! It tries to swerve violently into the wrong lane until the driver wrestles back control! @ElonMusk your ‘self-driving’ experiment is not working!” O’Dowd tweeted yesterday.
However, it isn’t only a personal crusade driving the new electoral focus and spending. O’Dowd has filed paperwork to run for office, and his name will appear on the ballot in California. According to sources, he has hired veteran Democratic consultants to help run the campaign.
O’Dowd and his crew declined to comment on the record. However, people who have spoken with O’Dowd said Friday that they anticipated him to clarify his candidacy in the coming days.
According to Politico, O’Dowd plans to spend millions on his Senate campaign and will likely rely heavily on tv adverts. However, O’Dowd will have lower ad expenditures and greater freedom of expression protection as a political candidate, which might also enable him to launch additional lawsuits against Tesla.
Tesla has faced several class actions and has worked hard to keep its safety claims. However, we are not sure if O’Dowd is running to beat a corporate rival or win the elections. He may not be as well-known as Musk, but he has the financial means to stand out from the crowd.