Elon Musk Has Pumped Nearly Half a Billion Dollars Into Helping Republicans Win Midterms

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Elon Musk has donated more than $445 million to Republican political efforts ahead of November’s midterm elections, according to a new report on the billionaire’s enormous financial influence over some of the country’s most competitive races.

According to a Thursday Bloomberg report, new Federal Election Commission filings show that Musk contributed another $77 million to his America PAC in the first half of October, bringing his total political giving this election cycle past the $445 million mark.

The eye-popping figure places the Tesla and SpaceX CEO among the most prolific super PAC donors in American political history, the outlet reported, surpassing prominent Democratic megadonor George Soros and Republican financiers Jeffrey Yass and Richard Uihlein.

Musk’s America PAC has already spent $71 million supporting Republican candidates, with much of that money directed toward fiercely contested Senate races in Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, and Maine.

Texas has emerged as a particularly expensive battleground for the billionaire, whose PAC has spent $33.1 million on the Senate contest between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico.

And these latest figures come just one week after The New York Times’ Teddy Schleifer revealed that Musk donated $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund in September, which then transferred the same amount to a Texas super PAC backing Paxton.

“All money is fungible, yeah. But Elon Musk, indirectly, financed Texas PAC for Paxton,” Schleifer wrote on social media at the time.

According to Bloomberg, Texas PAC has now spent a whopping $181 million on the race since Sept. 11.

Elsewhere, America PAC has poured $9.4 million into Republican Jon Husted’s Ohio Senate campaign against Democrat Sherrod Brown, along with $8.6 million into Michigan Republican Mike Rogers’ race against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

The massive spending spree comes as Republicans fight to preserve their narrow congressional majorities in November, with Democrats maintaining a consistent lead on the generic congressional ballot. Musk’s contributions, though, have helped bolster the GOP’s substantial fundraising advantage.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!