Arizona GOP Candidate’s Twitter Account Restored After Musk Writes He’s ‘Looking Into’ It

Arizona State Representative Mark Finchem and President Donald Trump in a file photo. Courtesy of Mark Finchem's Campaign

Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem, the Republican candidate for Secretary of State, wrote Monday that his Twitter account was suspended and then restored as new owner Elon Musk confirmed he would look into the incident—just about a week out from the 2022 midterm elections.

“Twitter has blocked my account from speaking truth with one week left until the election,” Finchem wrote on Facebook, including a photo that shows that his Twitter account appeared to be locked. “They are trying to put their thumb on the scales of this election. Tag Elon Musk and tell him to unban me right now.”

At the same time, former President Donald Trump attorney Jenna Ellis wrote to Musk on Twitter to inform him Finchem’s account was placed in “read-only mode” with just a week to go before the 2022 midterm elections on Nov. 8.

In response, Musk wrote, “Looking into it.”

About an hour later, Finchem wrote that his account was restored.

“We are back! Thank you @elonmusk for stopping the commie who suspended me from Twitter a week before the election,” he wrote. “Twitter is much better with you at the helm.”

It’s not clear why Finchem’s account was originally locked or if Musk was directly involved in reinstating his page. Twitter has not responded to a request for comment, and after Finchem’s account was restored, Musk has not posted about it since.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a file photo in 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

Finchem, a Republican state representative, is competing against Democrat Adrian Fontes for Arizona’s Secretary of State office. Polls have shown the two are embroiled in a tight race.

Musk, meanwhile, purchased Twitter for $44 billion last week and reportedly fired the company’s top executives. On Friday, the Tesla CEO wrote that Twitter would create a new “content moderation council” with “diverse” viewpoints.

Prior to the acquisition, Musk had voiced concerns about Twitter’s content moderation policies, accusing it of favoring left-wing political causes, and also said he doesn’t support permanent bans. Since early 2021, a number of prominent conservative figures, including former President Donald Trump as well as skeptics of COVID-19 vaccines have been permanently suspended from the website.

Twitter says that it will lock an account and place it in “read-only mode” for 12 hours to up to a week if it “seems like an otherwise healthy account is in the middle of an abusive episode.”

“When an account is in read-only mode, others will still be able to see and engage with the account,” Twitter’s Help Center page says. “The duration of this enforcement action can range from 12 hours to 7 days, depending on the nature of the violation.”