Elon Musk set a record for election spending this year after pouring nearly half a billion dollars into backing Republicans in the US midterm elections. It turned out to be a poor investment.
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO contributed at least $۴۴۶m to Republican-aligned Super Pacs and groups over the course of the elections, specifically targeting several key Senate races in an effort to help the Trump administration retain Republican control of Congress. He outdid his own ۲۰۲۴ spending of nearly $۲۹۰m. Yet as Democrats swept to power across the country on Tuesday night, it became clear that Musk would get nearly nothing in return for his hundreds of millions in spending.
Democrats won every one of the five Senate races where Musk’s America Pac spent the most money backing Republican candidates. In Texas, where Musk’s empire is based and where he directed most of his political efforts, Republicans lost the Senate race, governor’s office and are expected to relinquish control of the state house.
After months of Musk posting attacks on Democrats and amplifying election conspiracy theories on X, the tech mogul was unusually quiet on election night. He jokingly posted “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” but the top Republican mega-donor was otherwise largely silent on the results.
Musk’s losses from midterms go beyond the enormous sums that he dumped into failed campaigns, however, potentially ending an era of lax regulation and cozy relations with state officials that has benefitted his companies. The world’s richest person will soon face a House, Senate and Texas government filled with Democrats that have vowed to take a tougher stance on tech and specifically scrutinize his operations in particular.
Altogether, Musk’s political spending this midterms flowed into at least eight Republican-aligned Super Pacs that targeted races across the country, with the largest donation of at least $۲۱۶m going into his own America Pac. He also gave $۱۶۸m to the Senate Leadership Fund, which backed a series of candidates that included the Texas Republican Ken Paxton.
Out of all of Musk’s political activity in midterms, the contest where he put the most money and focus was the Senate race in Texas between Paxton and Democrat James Talarico. America Pac spent at least $۲۸m on anti-Talarico ad buys and messaging alone, while Musk repeatedly posted attacks on X, his social media platform, such as “Talarico wants to trans your kids and destroy the border.”
After Talarico achieved a commanding win on Tuesday night, the Democratic senator-elect referenced Musk in his victory speech.
“We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas,” Talarico said. “We just sent a message to every billionaire mega-donor, every trillionaire mega-donor.”
Senate races in Michigan, Maine, Ohio and Iowa similarly went for Democratic candidates after America Pac spent tens of millions supporting Republican campaigns. The Pac’s money had gone into attack ads that focused on transgender rights or accused Democrats of being radical socialists.
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Even if Musk’s spending was not successful, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t impactful. Musk and the Super Pacs’ expenditures created several of the most expensive races in US history and set a potential precedent for how much spending will take place in the ۲۰۲۸ presidential election. It will also probably spur months of analysis around the limits of what money can buy in politics.
Musk’s businesses have benefitted greatly from lucrative contracts with the Trump administration, as well as Trump’s hands-off approach to regulating artificial intelligence. In Texas, the state legislature and Governor Greg Abbott have provided him a friendly environment to do business while passing laws backed by the billionaire’s lobbyists.
Gina Hinojosa, the incoming Democratic governor in Texas,will probably take a more critical stance towards Musk and his businesses. Hinojosa has called for a datacenter moratorium and has been in a legal battle in recent months to gain access to unredacted emails between Abbott’s office and Musk. Meanwhile, House Democrats have called for launching investigations into Musk’s conduct while he was leader of the so-called “department of government efficiency” last year and vowed to scrutinize federal funding for his companies.
