Mark Cuban says presidential election is Kamala Harris vs. Elon Musk

Billionaire venture capitalist Mark Cuban says that Vice President Kamala Harris’ actual opponent in her pursuit of the White House is none other than fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk.

“It comes down to get out the vote, and the crazy thing is that it’s the Harris campaign versus Elon, not even [former President Donald] Trump,” Mr. Cuban said Monday on CNBC.

Mr. Cuban, a supporter of Ms. Harris’ Democratic campaign, was responding to Mr. Musk’s pledge over the weekend to give away $1 million a day to a voter who has signed his political action committee’s petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.

Mr. Musk, the owner of X, said Saturday that he would give out the money until Election Day. He gave a check to a man at an event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Saturday and another Sunday.

Mr. Cuban called Mr. Musk’s million-dollar initiative “innovative and desperate.”

“You only do that because you think you have to, but using a sweepstakes is not a bad idea,” he said. “Whether or not it’ll work is a whole other thing. It just as easily could backfire.”

Mr. Musk, who has endorsed Mr. Trump, started his America Pac in May with a focus on voter turnout in battleground states. He was on road last week in Pennsylvania to give “a series of talks.”

“If you’d like to attend one of my talks, there’s no attendance fee. You just need to have signed our petition supporting free speech & right to bear arms & have voted in this election,” Mr. Musk posted on X.

Mr. Musk previously had joined Mr. Trump for his second rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of the first assassination attempt against the Republican nominee.

When asked about Mr. Musk’s big-money giveaways, Mr. Trump said he hasn’t “followed that.”

Some have questioned whether the giveaway is legal, especially so close to the election, but Mr. Cuban said the sweepstakes “looks like it may be.”

• This story is based in part on wire service reports.