Billionaire Reportedly Running for Office Just to Destroy Elon Musk

Can he usurp the EV king?

Seek and Destroy

A billionaire software magnate is coming for Elon Musk's throne.

Dan O'Dowd made his fortune after starting Green Hills Software in 1982. The company creates software for embedded devices like electric vehicles and MP3 players. O'Dowd wants to replace EV operating systems like Tesla's and claims Tesla's vehicles aren't safe on social media.

"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.

https://twitter.com/RealDanODowd/status/1515370578219315206?s=20&t=9Oi5gfdinndIq-9dEya-Eg

What A Man Wants

O'Dowd is... a little obsessed. He posted similar versions of the same tweet pointing out Tesla's flaws once per day every day starting April 8 and hasn't let up. Now, according to a new Politico report published yesterday, he's running for office in California to continue his anti-Musk crusade.

O'Dowd is preparing to spend millions on his Senate campaign and according to Politico, is likely to use TV ads to his advantage. Being a political candidate means O'Dowd gets the lower ad costs and more freedom of speech protection could give him room to make additional claims against Tesla.

It's true Tesla has faced multiple lawsuits for discrimination and struggled to deliver on the car's safety promises, but it's not clear whether O'Dowd is running to take down a business opponent or to actually get elected. He may not have the following and popularity Musk does, but he sure has the money to make waves, whatever his goals may be.

More on California happenings: 100% Clean Energy Grid Coming Close in California