Elon Musk endorses tough-on-crime Democrat Jeremy Sylestine in Austin DA's race against Soros-backed Jose Garza

Elon Musk made an election-day intervention in one of the nation's fiercest contests as he urged followers to boot out Austin's ultra-liberal District Attorney Jose Garza.

The X owner asked his followers to back Democrat rival Jeremy Sylestine in today's primary, retweeting his eve of poll campaign video in which he lashed the Soros-backed incumbent for betraying victims.

More than 70 families of rape and murder victims have slammed Garza for 'revictimizing' them by dropping cases and offering plea deals.

Musk has already targeted the current DA, retweeting an appeal for his removal at the ballot box by Palantir Tech founder Joe Lonsdale, before doubling down on his campaign this morning.

'Sorry to bother everyone with this note, as it applies to people in the greater Austin area, but please go to the polls and vote for a new District Attorney!' he told his 175 million followers.

Elon Musk asked his followers to back Democrat rival Jeremy Sylestine in today's primary, retweeting his eve of poll campaign video

Austin DA Jose Garza received $600,000 from billionaire George Soros-back Texas Justice and Safety PAC during his campaign, and vowed to end 'over-prosecution' of minorities and impoverished residents

Elon Musk apologized to those of his 175 million followers unable to vote for Sylestine

The socialist lawyer trounced his Republican rival to win the job in 2020 on a promise to prosecute police misconduct and reform the justice system.

Garza had received $600,000 from billionaire George Soros-back Texas Justice and Safety PAC during his campaign, and vowed to end 'over-prosecution' of minorities and impoverished residents. 

He quickly abolished the use of cash bail for people charged with low-level, non-violent crimes while working with the Innocence Project of Texas to remove people from Death Row.

'I thought he might be lenient on people caught with pot, not that he would be letting murderers go,' Conny Branham, whose son was murdered in June 2020 told DailyMail.com.

All charges are dropped in 50 per cent more cases than under his predecessor, an investigation by local TV station KXAN found.

And Sylestine, a former assistant district attorney, claims that 75 out of 95 prosecutors have left the office under Garza's tenure.

'Having those people run away is a big red flag for voters and I hope y'all paying attention,' he said.

'The DA's office has let the backlog of cases grow to over 6,000 – what that means is justice delayed for thousands of people sitting on the other side of those lawsuits.

'The current DA's treatment towards violent offenders is dangerously lenient,' he added.

'As District Attorney, I will prosecute those who have proven to inflict harm onto others and by doing so, make our community safer.' 

The election campaign in the liberal city has been dogged by allegations of harassment and intimidation, and Garza slammed a biker group that allegedly tried to stop his volunteers leafleting at the weekend.

And he accused Sylestine of courting Republican donors after he raised $1.2 million compared to Garza's $204,000.

Chris Branham (left) and his mother, Conny, (right) visiting the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2016

Kyle Cleveland and Anthony Davis both received plea deals from Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza for their roles in the beating, kidnapping and shooting of Chris Branham

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza is on record as being against the death penalty, vowing to never enforcing it as long as he's in office

'What you're seeing in my campaign is not any sort of Republican or GOP or right-leaning message,' Sylestine responded.

'I'm really throwing right down the middle here. This is a campaign about criminal justice and what it means to people — and having someone in the office who's going to do the job.'

Garza baffled colleagues when he offered a plea deal to Kaitlin Armstrong, the woman accused of killing the woman her boyfriend had briefly dated, in a jealous rage.

She rejected the deal, and instead, went to trial in November where a jury sentenced her to 90 years in prison.

In November last year, Garza was asked to leave the funeral of fallen Austin Police Officer Jorge Pastore amid anger at his targeting of the department.

'When he came walking in, I thought what gall this man has to show up at a funeral for an officer killed in the line of duty when all he's done since he's been in office is go after cops,' said Dennis Farris, President of the Austin Police Retired Officers Association.

The following month he allowed a man who killed two people in his seventh drunk-driving crash to walk out on bond after his charges were reduced from manslaughter to DWI.

'I just feel broken,' said JR Lopez, whose daughter was shot in the head during a deadly road rage incident before bleeding out in her father's arms.

JR Lopez pictured with his daughter, Miranda, 21, who was killed in 2021

The two men who fired at Miranda Lopez while she was driving home from dinner with her sister were also offered plea deals, even though the families were told state law allowed prosecutors to seek up to 99 years in prison. 

Lopez said Garza refused to take the cases to trial.

'This isn't justice,' the victim's dad said. 'I'm not sure how much longer I can do this.'

'Over the last three years, the District Attorney's Office has focused on holding accountable people who commit acts of violence and addressing the root causes of violence,' Garza said in a statement.

'As a result, this is one of the safest communities in the country.'