From Musk to the giants in the cryptocurrency industry, it is difficult to defeat the anger of voters, and the U.S. midterm elections are a wake-up call.

American billionaire Musk and supporters of the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI) industries have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in key battles in this year’s U.S. midterm elections. However, in the "most expensive" election in American history, many of the candidates they supported ultimately lost. Voters' dissatisfaction with the economy, including the impact of technology on their jobs and communities, ultimately outweighed the flood of funds.

Bloomberg reported on the 5th that these defeats are bound to make many major political donors re-examine how effective investing large sums of money can be, and whether they need to adjust their strategies. In some elections, these large sums of money may not only fail to help candidates win easily, but may instead inspire the opposition camp.

James Talarico, who won the Texas U.S. Senate seat for the Democratic Party, relied mainly on small donations from across the country. In his victory speech on the 3rd, he said, "We have just shown that no money in the world can compete with the people of Texas."

According to U.S. Federal Election Commission filing records, Musk donated more than $445 million in this midterm election, once again becoming the largest single donor, of which $205 million was invested in the Texas campaign to support Republican candidate Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate race, but Paxton ultimately lost to Talarico.

The cryptocurrency industry invested $166 million, of which $64 million was used to prevent Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown from winning the election, but it also failed to work. The AI ​​and data center industries are investing millions of dollars in support of Darlene Trump, President Trump’s handpicked Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in South Carolina. Darline Graham, still lost to Democratic candidate Annie Andrews.

Another big loser is the Senate Leadership Fund, a pro-Republican super PAC, which invested more than $558 million in this election. However, all the candidates it supported in the five races it focused on lost.

The Democratic Party also spent a lot of money in this midterm election. The fundraising and expenditures of several fiercely contested state senatorial candidates even significantly exceeded their Republican opponents; however, external group spending was still dominated by the Republican Party. The Republican Party and three super PACs related to Trump or the party’s congressional leaders raised a total of US$2.1 billion, compared with US$1.4 billion for Democratic-related camps.

However, there are also examples of Republican donors who have won elections. Griffin, CEO of the hedge fund Castle Investment Group, donated $15 million to support Republican candidate Byron Donalds and $2.5 million to support Republican Senator Ashley Moody, both of whom won the election. Organizations supporting Republican candidates under Fairshake, a super PAC backed by the cryptocurrency industry, invested more than $11.9 million in support of Republican Senator Pete Ricketts, who was successfully re-elected in Nebraska on the 3rd.