Musk Dumps $76 Million Into Texas Senate Fight as Midterms Loom

Elon Musk directed more than $76 million to his personal political committee, America PAC, during the first two weeks of October.

The figure was disclosed in a pre-election report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday evening. The group spent nearly $43 million in that same window and holds almost $47 million in cash as the campaign enters its final stretch.

Musk began funneling money to Republican causes early in the election cycle. By the time the latest reports were filed, he had contributed more than $445 million to Republican political groups, according to Wired’s analysis of FEC filings. That amount makes him the largest known individual donor in the midterms. More than $165 million of that total went to America PAC since July.

The Texas Senate race absorbed the bulk of the new spending. America PAC put $15.2 million into the contest, which is twice what the group spent there over the entire summer. Of that total, $12.4 million attacked Democratic candidate James Talarico, while $2.8 million promoted Republican Ken Paxton. Daily filings show another $9.1 million was directed against Talarico after the initial report. This brings the PAC's spending against the Democrat to nearly $28 million for the cycle. The group also shifted toward digital advertising, spending $11.4 million on online ads in the two-week period, an amount close to what it spent on mail and texting combined.

Musk has also engaged in the race directly on social media. On Wednesday, he wrote on X that there is something deeply wrong with Talarico, calling the candidate a creep and claiming without evidence that Talarico would vote to take away kids and transition them. Earlier in the month, he amplified a false claim that Talarico had been treated at a mental health facility. Talarico responded the same day, stating that there is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal US Senator.

An Emerson College poll of 1,000 likely Texas voters, conducted October 17 to 19, shows the race remains a toss-up. The survey put Talarico at 48 percent and Paxton at 46 percent, within the poll's 3-point margin of error.

The outcome carries weight for Musk beyond the statehouse. If Democrats win the House, committee chairs have signaled they will investigate Musk's role in the Department of Government Efficiency and the federal contracts held by his companies. Representatives Sam Liccardo, Jimmy Panetta and Ro Khanna wrote to the White House demanding an investigation into restrictions on SpaceX's Starshield satellite service in Ukraine. They noted that the next Congress will closely scrutinize federal funding awarded to Musk's businesses.