Musk pours another $76M into midterm push

Elon Musk has supercharged his midterm campaign efforts with a massive new cash infusion.

According to a report filed Thursday evening with the Federal Election Commission, Musk transferred more than $76 million to his personal political committee, America PAC, during the first two weeks of October. The filing marks a significant escalation in spending as the election nears its conclusion.

The committee deployed nearly $43 million in that same two-week window. Despite the heavy spending, America PAC still holds a robust war chest. It enters the final stretch of the race with nearly $47 million in cash remaining.

The Texas Senate contest absorbed the bulk of these new funds. The race attracted $15.2 million in spending, which is double the amount the PAC directed to that state during the summer. Of that total, $12.4 million was used to attack Democratic candidate James Talarico, while $2.8 million went toward promoting Republican Ken Paxton.

Daily filings released after the initial report indicate even more money has flowed to the Texas campaign. An additional $9.1 million has been spent against Talarico since then. This brings the total cycle spending against him to nearly $28 million. That figure represents about 40 percent of everything the PAC has spent to support or oppose candidates. The group also shifted its strategy toward digital platforms, spending $11.4 million on online ads in two weeks. That amount is nearly equal to its combined spending on mail and text messages.

Musk’s total contributions to Republican political groups this cycle have surpassed $445 million, according to an analysis of FEC filings. This makes him the largest known individual donor in the midterms. Since July alone, more than $165 million of that total has gone specifically to America PAC. The committee declined to comment on the new numbers.

The billionaire has also been vocal about the Texas race on social media. On Wednesday, he posted on X that there is something deeply wrong with Talarico. He called the Democrat a creep and claimed, without providing evidence, that the candidate would vote to take away children and transition them. Earlier in the month, Musk amplified a false claim that Talarico had been treated at a mental health facility. Talarico responded by saying, There is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal US Senator.

The Texas race remains competitive. An Emerson College poll of 1,000 likely voters, conducted from October 17 to 19, found Talarico leading by two points. The poll showed Talarico at 48 percent and Paxton at 46 percent, which is within the three-point margin of error.

The outcome has significant implications beyond state lines. If Democrats take the House, committee leaders have signaled they will investigate Musk’s role in the Department of Government Efficiency, his federal contracts, and his conflicts of interest. California Democrat Zoe Lofgren described the number of conflicts as astounding. A unified Democratic Congress would create even more pressure. On Friday, Silicon Valley Democrats added another target by sending a letter to the White House. Representatives Sam Liccardo, Jimmy Panetta, and Ro Khanna demanded an investigation into SpaceX’s Starshield satellite service in Ukraine. They vowed that the next Congress will closely scrutinize federal funding awarded to Musk’s businesses.