As critical elections in which control of Congress will be determined are approaching, the launch of multimillion-dollar advertising and voter mobilization campaigns on the Republican side shows that the party has started to use its financial power more intensively in the last weeks leading to the polls.
Major pro-Trump political action committee MAGA Inc. spent nearly $10 million on advertising to support Republican candidate Ken Paxton against Democratic rival James Talarico in the critical Senate race in Texas. America PAC, which is at the center of Elon Musk's political operations, spent $3.7 million to support Republican candidates across the country this week alone. Thus, two political structures close to Trump and Musk began to provide direct financial support to the Republicans' struggle to maintain their power in Congress.
Seven states and critical electoral districts are targeted
New financial filings filed with the Federal Election Commission reveal that Musk's America PAC did not limit the campaign to a few critical races. Beginning September 1, the committee purchased SMS campaigns and digital and print ads targeting Senate elections in Michigan, Alaska, Ohio, Iowa, Texas, Maine and New Hampshire. The spending operation was also expanded to House races; At least 12 of the nation's most competitive districts have been among the targets of America PAC's political campaign.
$400 million waiting in MAGA's safe
MAGA Inc.'s move to Texas, worth approximately $10 million, is also important as it is the committee's first large-scale election expenditure this year. According to the Financial Times, it has been discussed in Republican circles for months how to use the huge financial reserves of approximately $ 400 million held by MAGA Inc. The main question within the party was whether this money would be spent to help Republicans maintain their Congressional majority in the 2026 midterm elections, would it be saved for future elections, or would it be used for Trump's direct political interests.
Senate Republican Leader John Thune and other Republican officials this week publicly called on MAGA Inc. to open the committee's coffers and use its money to help Republicans maintain control of Congress. In an interview with Fox News, Thune argued that some of the financial resources should be directed specifically to Texas. The fact that Texas is a very expensive market for political advertising is cited as one of the main reasons why Republicans need a large amount of resources for the race in the state.
The Texas race is also notable in terms of preferences within the Republican Party. Trump chose to support Ken Paxton, who is considered a controversial political figure, instead of Republican John Cornyn, who is currently serving in the Senate. The fact that MAGA Inc.'s approximately $10 million advertising budget was directed to Paxton's fight against Democrat James Talarico reveals that Trump is also mobilizing the financial and political mechanisms at his disposal to support his candidate preferences within the party.
He was going to establish a third party 14 months ago
Elon Musk's re-involvement in the Republican election campaigns to this extent occurs approximately 14 months after his harsh political disagreement with Trump. Musk had a harsh public debate with the president over the giant tax and spending bill supported by Trump, and as the dispute escalated, he even threatened to establish a third political party to rival the Republicans. Today, Musk's political funds are again financing the election campaigns of Republican candidates.
While Musk later became close to Trump again, he also maintained his close relationships with leading figures of the MAGA movement. In addition to this political rapprochement, Musk has strong economic relations with the American federal government. The fact that companies controlled by Musk, especially SpaceX and Tesla, have contracts worth billions of dollars with the US government makes the billionaire's weight in both the business world and Washington politics more remarkable.
First $50 million, now the possibility of 100 million
Musk, the owner of Tesla, transferred approximately $50 million to America PAC, which is at the center of his political activities, and gave most of this money last year. By the end of June, the committee had spent almost the entire amount. But America PAC later managed to raise millions of dollars in new funds. Evaluations reflected in the American media indicate that Musk's total political expenditures for the 2026 midterm elections may reach up to 100 million dollars.
This position of Musk in American politics is actually quite new. Musk, who was not an important financial player on the current scale in the country's politics before the 2024 elections, turned into one of Trump's most important supporters during the presidential elections. With Musk's support, America PAC raised over $260 million in the 2024 election cycle. At that time, Musk did not limit the importance of the elections to American domestic politics, and argued that the 2024 elections were critical for the realization of the goal of sending people to Mars.
From Mars target to DOGE and $2 trillion savings promise
Following Trump's election victory, Musk took over leadership of the "Department of Government Efficiency" initiative, known as DOGE, and vowed to cut federal government spending by $2 trillion. During this period, he led initiatives to eliminate American foreign aid programs and carried out extensive work to reduce the number of employees in various federal agencies. However, a significant portion of the measures implemented were later reversed, and the DOGE initiative failed to deliver a significant reduction in federal government spending, contrary to the ambitious targets initially set out.
Big fight in the Trump-Musk alliance
The relationship between Trump and Musk entered a serious crisis again last June. Musk harshly criticized the massive tax and spending package supported by Trump, calling the bill a "huge, excessive and special-interest spending package." At that time, Musk signaled that he might stop spending large amounts of money on American politics from now on, but he later reversed this stance. Although its political spending after the 2024 elections remained relatively limited compared to the previous period, it transferred a total of $ 20 million to the two major party committees supporting Republican candidates in the House of Representatives and Senate elections.
The track record of Musk's massive financial investments in political candidates shows that while money is a powerful tool in American politics, it does not guarantee victory at the ballot box. Musk spent $23 million last year to support a conservative candidate running for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, but the candidate he supported lost the election by 10 points. Musk also funneled $10 million to a political committee supporting Republican Nate Morris in his Senate race in Kentucky; but Morris later withdrew from the race. Now, with less than two months until the midterm elections, Trump's $400 million MAGA coffers and Musk's election budget, which is said to reach $100 million, are being put on the field again in order to reverse the declining support of Republicans in the polls. Thus, the old question of American politics comes to the fore again: Will the fate of the ballot box be determined by the voters' choice or the hundreds of millions of dollars spent to reach the voters?
