Elon Musk pumped nearly half a billion dollars into the 2026 elections; This is widespread spending that makes him the largest declared donor in modern American politics, and one of the largest financial supporters in the history of the Republican Party.
The world's richest man contributed more than $445 million to federal committees alone as of mid-October. This is an amount more than double what prominent Democratic donor George Soros - who was the largest known individual donor in the 2022 congressional midterm elections - gave when he donated about $177 million to outside groups.
Brendan Glavin, who oversees research at OpenSecrets, a non-profit organization that tracks political spending, said Musk's money could "single-handedly" change the course of the midterm elections.
“There is one person who is absolutely dominating the scene, and is changing the way Republicans can spend money and advocate for themselves,” he explained.
Musk donated approximately $216 million to America PAC, the super PAC that is the focus of his political activity. According to federal campaign data, the group's activities cover more than 40 House and Senate races this fall.
But nowhere has the billionaire spent more than in Texas, where he resides and where parts of his business empire are based.
The intense competition for the Senate seat there, between Democrat James Tallarico and Republican Ken Paxton, may determine which party will control the Senate during the last two years of President Donald Trump's term in the White House.
America PAC has funded mail campaigns, digital ads and other outreach to Texas voters in an attempt to defeat Tallarico and other Democrats.
But a much larger portion of Musk's money — at least $168 million so far — has been directed to Texas through other groups. Recent disclosures show, for example, that two donations the SpaceX CEO made last month to the Senate Leadership Fund — a GOP super PAC — were quickly diverted to a second group called a Texas PAC; This is the group that launched stinging attacks against Tallarico through the media.
Much of the anti-Tallarico rhetoric seeks to portray him as someone out of step with Texas values; Some point to his vote - while a member of the state legislature - against a 2023 law banning sex reassignment surgeries and other medical interventions for minors. Talarico's campaign made clear that he does not support sex reassignment surgery for children, but he opposed the bill because it was too broad in scope.
Musk also donated $10 million to a pro-Paxton political action committee, which, as CNN's KFILE reported this week, funded AI-generated robocalls attacking Tallarico.
A spokesman for Musk's America PAC political action committee declined to comment.
But Republicans familiar with the strategy explained that the PAC is generally focused on helping the Republican Party maintain control of Congress next year, noting that Elon Musk's move to bear part of the advertising costs in Texas allows other Republican groups to direct their resources elsewhere with the aim of protecting the majority in the Senate.
In a statement, Alex Latcham, executive director of the Senate Leadership Fund, said that the donors who funded the Texas PAC “ensured that we did not have to divert any resources from other key races” and allowed the group to “run effective campaigns in various regions.”
A sweeping attack in the last moments
Talarico has raised more money than any other federal candidate this election cycle, totaling $146 million through Oct. 14, more than six times the $22.3 million raised by Paxton, according to Federal Election Commission records. As a CNN poll released Thursday showed, the Democratic candidate narrowly led Paxton.
But in recent weeks, Talarico has faced a wave of outside spending by Paxton supporters, including those funded by Musk. According to AdImpact data, Republicans outspent Democrats on advertising during the final four weeks of the Texas Senate campaign by more than double; Republican spending amounted to $118.9 million, compared to $54.7 million for Democrats.
Dave Carney, a senior political consultant for Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott's re-election campaign, says Republicans in the state believe that spending by Elon Musk and other Republican groups is starting to hurt Talarico.
"They took this handsome young man, your next-door neighbor, this nice, moderate guy, and they exposed his voting record," Carney told CNN this week.
Tallarico is increasingly focusing his criticism on Musk, highlighting his major role in the Texas electoral race, at a time when Democrats are seeking to motivate their voters to participate in the final stage of the campaign.
“Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat,” Talarico said during a recent campaign rally, while reviewing the scope of activities Musk is funding in the state.
"Most likely, if you saw an attack ad on your TV, that was Elon's work. If lies arrived in your inbox, that was Elon's work. If you received a text message with scary things about me, that was Elon's work," he said.
A recent digital ad from Talarico reinforced that message, noting that Paxton "would owe him everything" if Musk's money helped elect the Republican candidate.
A spokesman for Paxton did not respond to CNN's inquiry.
Democrats have previously sought to use Musk as a counterparty to stimulate voter turnout.
In Wisconsin last year, a massive spending campaign worth $20 million - led by Elon Musk and groups allied with him, along with his decision to participate in the election campaign within the state - became a mainstay of the discourse of Democrats, who succeeded in inflicting a landslide defeat on the candidate whom Musk was supporting in the race to reach the state Supreme Court.
Other Democratic ads that year used images of Musk wielding a chainsaw to highlight his controversial — and short-lived — tenure running the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency.
This year, Musk has maintained a less visible presence, although his political spending has risen to new highs. He did not participate in election campaigns alongside any of the candidates.
But he used the social media platform X, which he controls, to increasingly intensify his criticism of Tallarico. Over the past week, he posted more than a dozen tweets about this Democratic politician, many of them describing him in derogatory terms, such as “a far-left extremist.”
Linda Tran, a Democratic strategist based in Washington, said Musk and his spending cast a big shadow over the election.
She added: "The billionaire may not appear on stage waving an electric saw or resort to other theatrical performances, but there is no way to hide the truth about the donations he makes, nor the extent of his interest in the various electoral races for the Republican Party."
