Republicans are using custom electric Cybertrucks to get political

Barreling down State Route 101 on a recent Sunday afternoon, the Jay Feely campaign Cybertruck was hard to miss.

No space on the navy blue behemoth had been left unbranded, from the star-spangled hood to the QR codes printed on the back. Feely’s congressional campaign logo covered the doors.

Even the license plate was a political statement: “THXELON.”

Feely, a former Arizona Cardinals player who is running for the U.S. House in Arizona‘s 1st Congressional District, is among the Republicans embracing the Cybertruck as a way to make a political statement in Arizona and beyond.

The Tesla Cybertruck, a $70,000 electric pickup truck known for its futuristic, stainless steel exterior, is ubiquitous on the right despite President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again relationship with the truck’s inventor.

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“They’re impossible to miss. They’re incredibly distinct,” said Landon Wall, owner of the conservative data analytics firm GrayHouse and a former Kari Lake pollster. “Let’s be honest, they have great horizontal real estate.”

The trend is catching on. One Arizona state legislator was pulled over for speeding in his branded Cybertruck, while a conservative activist had his model specially designed to pay homage to the slain conservative activist and Arizona resident Charlie Kirk.

The benefits of the branded Tesla are twofold. Cybertrucks are so distinct that they catch attention easily and start a conversation, their drivers say. Plus, getting behind the wheel of a Cybertruck is an instant signal of support for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who poured $290 million into getting Trump elected.

“Campaigns understand that visuals like this travel far faster than policy messages,” said John Della Volpe, the director of polling for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.

Feely is running in a packed GOP primary battle for one of the most competitive House seats in the country. Even with Trump’s coveted endorsement, the former Arizona Cardinals kicker is still looking for ways to stand out from the pack.

Feely’s Cybertruck has its own name, according to a sizzle reel set to rock music and posted to his campaign Instagram account. The “Make America Great Again & Keep It That Way” Cybertruck is like a campaign billboard on wheels.

“Spot us? Snap a pic and use #TeamFeelyCybertruck to help spread the word!” the campaign said on Instagram.

The Feelys are a Tesla family. He’s such a Musk fan that he was among the first to order a Cybertruck, while his daughter drives a Barbie pink Tesla. Feely also appreciates that Musk bought and transformed X, the social platform previously called Twitter.

Feely used to keep the Cybertruck at his house in Michigan, so his son took it on a 30-hour road trip to Arizona when he decided to run for office. Naturally, the truck drove itself the whole way there.

Now, Feely brings the campaign Cybertruck everywhere, from high school football games to the Waste Management Open and to Kirk’s public memorial at State Farm Stadium.

Along with sparing him from Scottsdale’s $3.70-per-gallon gas prices, Feely’s EV doubles as a handy prop for his social media content. Feely used the truck as a backdrop when he delivered his take on the government shutdown a few months ago.

Feely paid $4,500 to Prodigy Wraps of Mesa for the design, according to his campaign finance report.

“It’s just such a fun, eyeball-grabbing truck,” Feely said. “And when you wrap it like that, it just has even more of an impact.”

The branded Cybertruck can serve as a pared-down version of the classic campaign bus, the type of mobile command center and rolling advertisement employed by politicians everywhere. It may even eliminate the need for the storied role of the campaign driver, since the truck can drive itself.

During her failed Senate campaign, Lake was easy to find when she pulled up in an RV that had “ENDORSED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP” plastered to its side. Few will forget the way John McCain’s famed “Straight Talk Express” revived his presidential campaign, though that was more about what happened in the bus – not what was written on the side.

For the man behind “The Charlie Kirk Legacy Project,” starting a conversation was the goal. He paid $3,500 to wrap his Cybertruck in a custom design honoring Kirk after he was killed, according to a Facebook fundraiser for the initiative.

“The Cybertruck is one of the most attention-grabbing vehicles on the road, and the goal is to make it a moving platform for truth — sparking conversations, inspiring young people, and reminding us to stand boldly for what is right,” he wrote.

The truck is wrapped in navy blue with red and white accents. A massive black-and-white illustration of Kirk is the focal point, above the text “WE THE PEOPLE STAND WITH CHARLIE KIRK.”

The rest of the truck is covered by an American flag, Kirk’s quotes, a Bible verse and a QR code that directs to the Turning Point website.

“The project was absolutely amazing. The guy just got shot, I felt it was a very, very unique and powerful project for me,” said Guto “G” Braga, the graphic designer who worked on the Kirk truck. He offered a discount on the job, calling it a good thing to do.

Braga is a Republican but he stays out of the political fray. He didn’t view the Kirk truck as a political statement, but that didn’t stop haters from swarming his social media post promoting his work. He typically designs Cybertruck wraps for businesses looking to advertise their services, not political figures.

“As a promotional car, it’s a good tool to do that. People look at it, it’s already doing its work. It’s a weird car, it’s very different,” Braga said. “Some people love, some people hate, but everybody looks at it.”

Though the man behind the Kirk legacy truck didn’t respond to a request for comment, he and the vehicle have made the rounds on social media. He’s been featured on Instagram by auto detailing companies that have washed and worked on the Cybertruck, for example.

When Turning Point USA held the first “AmericaFest” conference in downtown Phoenix after Kirk’s assassination, the Cybertruck bearing the co-founder’s image was parked right outside.

The Cybertruck is a vehicle designed to be noticed, and that’s exactly what happened when state Sen. Jake Hoffman, founding chair of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, got pulled over in his bright blue Tesla last year.

Hoffman’s electric pickup is emblazoned with the word “FREEDOM” across the back in Turning Point’s signature font. The license plate reads “INDICTD,” an apparent nod to his ensnarement in the Arizona fake electors case.

The “FREEDOM” decal was visible in police body camera footage when he was pulled over for driving 89 mph in a 65 mph zone. His Cybertruck made it onto the local TV news, but Hoffman avoided a speeding ticket thanks to a state law that grants immunity to lawmakers for minor crimes and violations during the legislative session.

The Cybertruck’s omnipresence in Republican politics can be traced back to Trump himself.

Less than a month after Trump was nearly assassinated on the campaign trail, the streamer Adin Ross presented him with a Cybertruck in August 2024. It had been custom-designed with the iconic photo of a bloody Trump defiantly raising his fist after surviving the attack in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Trump called the vehicle “incredible” and recorded a TikTok dance in front of it.

To Wall, the Cybertruck can be seen as an ultra-modern version of the GMC Hummer that defined the early 2000s, or an update to the Ford F-150 and F-250 Super Duty trucks that fill the parking lots outside Trump rallies.

“The Cybertruck functions as a political symbol as much as a vehicle,” Della Volpe said. “Its futuristic, almost militaristic design conveys toughness, disruption, and independence — signals that resonate with some younger male voters who respond strongly to displays of strength and anti-establishment identity.”

Elected Democrats have been thinking about trucks, too, especially when it comes to men and the American Dream.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, drove the point home when he told the New York Times last year that “every Latino man wants a big-ass truck.” (Gallego is a Musk critic, so it’s safe to say he wasn’t referring to the Cybertruck).

At other times, the Cybertruck has been used as a symbol for something darker. A man was believed to have shot himself in the head and detonated a Cybertruck outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas in January 2025, killing himself and injuring others.

There’s some irony in an electric vehicle becoming a Republican political emblem, as the party has been staunchly supportive of fossil fuels. It also comes at a time when liberals are slapping disclaimer stickers on the Teslas they bought before Musk joined the Trump inner circle.

“Republicans are all of a sudden very excited about a guy whose entire mission is to get us off gasoline,” Arizona GOP consultant Barrett Marson said. “That’s antithetical to a lot of Republican dogma, and so it’s a little bit ironic.”

Musk is a polarizing figure, according to a recent The Economist/YouGov poll. Only one in 10 Democrats has a favorable view of Musk, while 68% of Republicans approve of the Tesla boss.

That number jumps even higher for MAGA supporters: 80% have a favorable opinion of Musk, the poll found. YouGov surveyed 1,730 U.S. citizen adults from Feb. 6-9.

“A lot of people hate Cybertrucks because of Elon Musk. I’m telling you, man, everything is based on hate,” said Braga, the graphic designer and owner of BJJ Graphics in Port Orange, Florida. “Everything in this country right now just became Republican or Democrat, no matter what you do.”

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, got in on the trend when he dumped his Tesla for a Chevy Tahoe last year.

“When I bought this thing, I didn’t think it was gonna become a political issue,” Kelly said in a video posted to Musk’s X platform. “It’s time to get rid of it. Elon Musk kind of turned out to be an asshole, and I don’t want to be driving a car built and designed by an asshole.”

And freshman Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Arizona, made it a point to distance herself from Tesla on X, noting that she’s a former, not current, Tesla owner. Ansari’s office didn’t reply when The Republic asked what she drives these days.

If Feely makes it through the July 21 primary, he will be the Republican nominee in one of America’s most competitive swing districts. And in order to win, his campaign will need to appeal to undecided, independent voters who may be less keen on Musk than the MAGA base.

Despite the Cybertruck’s polarizing nature, Feely said he’ll drive it all the way to the general election. Or maybe the truck will drive itself.

“More than anything, people want transparency from their politicians. They want to know that you’re real. They want to know that you’re not changing and telling them what they want to hear,” Feely said. “The Cybertruck is just another example of that for me. I’m not going to change, because I think, well, independents or Democrats won’t like it. I think it’s part of who I am, and I’m proud of that.”

Reporting by Stephanie Murray, Arizona Republic