Elon Musk's Nearly Half a Billion Dollars in Midterm Spending Turns Out a Flop

Billionaire Elon Musk set a record for election spending after pouring nearly half a billion dollars into backing Republicans in the US midterm elections. But as Democrats swept to power across the country on Tuesday night, it became clear that he would get nearly nothing in return for his hundreds of millions.

The SpaceX and Tesla chief executive contributed at least $446 million 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. In doing so, he outdid his own 2024 spending of nearly $290 million.

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 and the governor's office, and are expected to relinquish control of the state house as well.

Altogether, Musk's political spending flowed into at least eight Republican-aligned Super PACs that targeted races across the country. The largest donation, at least $216 million, went into his own America PAC. He also gave $168 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which backed a series of candidates that included the Texas Republican Ken Paxton.

The contest where Musk put the most money and focus was the Senate race in Texas between Paxton and Democrat James Talarico. America PAC spent at least $28 million on anti-Talarico advertising and messaging alone, while Musk repeatedly posted attacks on Talarico on X, his social media platform.

After achieving 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 to 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.

After months of posting attacks on Democrats and amplifying election conspiracy theories on X, Musk was unusually quiet on election night. Apart from jokingly posting that 'data centers in space are looking pretty appealing right now', the top Republican mega-donor was otherwise largely silent on the results.

Even though the spending was not successful, it was still impactful. Musk's 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 2028 presidential election. It is also likely to spur months of analysis around the limits of what money can buy in politics.

Musk's businesses have benefited greatly from lucrative contracts with the Trump administration, as well as from 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. She 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 investigations into Musk's conduct while he led the so-called 'department of government efficiency' last year, and have vowed to scrutinise federal funding for his companies.