Musk pours $158m into GOP super PAC for Texas senate race

Elon Musk gave $158 million to the GOP’s main super PAC backing Senate candidates in September, making the world’s richest person the biggest US political donor for the second straight election cycle, according to the latest filings from the Federal Election Commission.

The donations appear to be earmarked for the Texas Senate race, normally a relatively safe seat for Republicans that’s turned into one of the most expensive in history.

Musk has now given more than $330 million in the current election cycle, putting him well ahead of other major political donors including hedge fund manager George Soros, a perennial top contributor to Democrats, and Republican backers like quant trader Jeffrey Yass and Uline co-founder Richard Uihlein.

That total includes another $89 million to his own America PAC, which released its third quarter disclosures ahead of Thursday’s midnight deadline.

Musk’s torrent of giving comes even as he keeps a lower political profile than two years ago, when he spent the final weeks of the presidential campaign joining Donald Trump onstage for rallies.

He has much at stake in the outcome of the midterm elections. Musk’s overlapping empire of companies — which includes SpaceX, Tesla Inc., the Boring Company and Neuralink — are heavily exposed to regulation by federal agencies. And his role leading DOGE, the slash-and-burn effort to reshape the federal government, could also come under greater scrutiny if Democrats win control of the US House.

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His nine-figure giving to the Senate Leadership Fund also marks a change in his donation practices: Musk previously has channelled most of his political dollars to America PAC. His donation, split in two tranches of $75 million and $83 million, came weeks after SLF created Texas PAC, an affiliate that’s focusing on the Texas Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general. SLF transferred amounts identical to Musk’s donations to Texas PAC one day after he made them. Texas PAC has spent $148 million on the contest since September 11, FEC records show, two days after Musk’s donation.

Musk’s America PAC has spent $41.8 million to boost Republicans in US Senate contests, including in high-profile races in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and Maine. It’s also spread $9.6 million across more than 30 competitive House districts, joining GOP efforts to hold onto its majorities in both chambers of Congress.

Nowhere has the political action committee dropped more money than in the US Senate contest in Texas, where it has spent $22.7 million to help Paxton and attack Talarico. Musk, the chief executive officer of both Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, has lived in Texas since 2020, and his business empire has a growing presence in the state.

America PAC has spent $7.6 million on the Ohio Senate race between Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Jon Husted. It’s also spent $5.9 million in the Michigan race where El-Sayed is running against Republican Mike Rogers.

Much of its spending in these and other contests has been on phone calls, text messages and printed material like mailers and door hangers. In the lower Hudson Valley, for example, where Republican Representative Mike Lawler is in a competitive contest against Democrat Cait Conley, some households received door hangers paid for by America PAC. The mailers read “The Socialist Left is Destroying America,” and include a collage of images of Conley, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Senator Bernie Sanders.

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Musk’s donations widen the big financial advantage the GOP already enjoys over Democrats. Trump, the Republican Party and its congressional super PACs amassed $1.1 billion through the end of the second quarter, triple the $355 million that Democrats’ corresponding committees have on hand. The cash advantage is one bright spot in a difficult electoral environment for the GOP.

Musk has a net worth of $920.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Musk’s earlier donations this cycle include $10 million each to the Republican-supporting Senate Leadership Fund and Congressional Leadership Fund. In January, he donated $10 million to the Fight for Kentucky PAC, which supported the Senate candidacy of Republican Nate Morris. Morris withdrew from the race in May after Trump urged him to step aside. Musk also gave $5 million to a super PAC that supports the campaign of Vivek Ramaswamy for Ohio governor.

He gave $50 million to America PAC in 2025, most of which was spent in a Wisconsin state Supreme Court election in April 2025. The candidate Musk backed, former state attorney general Brad Schimel, lost to Susan Crawford, a circuit court judge who was supported by Democrats.

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