By Sharon Zhang, November 29, 2022
In the weeks following right-wing billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in late October, Republican members of Congress gained hundreds of thousands of followers on the platform, while Democrats experienced a purge of followers, a new report finds.
According to an analysis of ProPublica data by The Washington Post, the biggest shifts in follower counts for Republicans have almost all been gains, with the biggest winner being white nationalist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), followed by far right Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), both gaining over 300,000 followers each. Senators Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rand Paul (Kentucky) both gained roughly 200,000 followers, while Rep. Matt Gaetz (Florida) added over 100,000 accounts to his follower count.
Meanwhile, the largest shifts in follower counts for Democrats have all been negative, save for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (New York), likely because he is poised to take over for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (California) as the next leader of the Democratic caucus.
