Midterm Spending Surge: Musk’s PAC Injects $76M Into Final Push

Elon Musk has significantly accelerated his financial support for Republican candidates in the closing weeks of the midterm elections. According to a pre-election report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday evening, the billionaire’s personal political committee, America PAC, received more than $76 million in contributions during the first two weeks of October.

The group deployed nearly $43 million of those funds in that same two-week period, leaving it with approximately $47 million in cash reserves for the final stretch. The Texas Senate contest absorbed the largest share of this new capital, drawing $15.2 million in expenditures. This amount is double what the PAC spent in that state throughout the summer, including $12.4 million in negative advertising targeting Democratic nominee James Talarico and $2.8 million in positive ads for Republican challenger Ken Paxton. Subsequent daily filings indicate an additional $9.1 million was spent against Talarico, bringing the total opposition spending against him to nearly $28 million, which constitutes roughly 40 percent of the committee’s total cycle spending. Additionally, the PAC shifted its strategy toward digital platforms, spending $11.4 million on online ads, a figure comparable to its combined spending on mail and text messaging.

Musk’s total contributions to Republican political groups this cycle have exceeded $445 million, cementing his status as the largest known individual donor for these midterms. Since July alone, more than $165 million has flowed specifically to America PAC. While the committee declined to comment on the latest filings, Musk has been vocal on social media regarding the Texas race. On Wednesday, he posted on X that he found Talarico to be "a creep" and claimed, without providing evidence, that the candidate "would vote to take away your kids and transition them." He also recently amplified an unverified claim that Talarico had received treatment at a mental health facility. Talarico responded swiftly, stating, "There is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal US Senator."

The contest remains statistically close. An Emerson College poll of 1,000 likely Texas voters, conducted from October 17 to 19, placed Talarico at 48 percent and Paxton at 46 percent, a difference within the survey’s three-point margin of error. The outcome carries significant implications for Musk beyond the state seat. If Democrats secure a majority in the House, committee leaders have indicated they will investigate his involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency, his companies’ federal contracts, and what California Democrat Zoe Lofgren described as an "astounding" number of conflicts of interest. A unified Democratic Congress would present even greater challenges for his business interests.

Silicon Valley Democrats have expanded their list of potential targets, focusing on SpaceX’s Starshield satellite service in Ukraine. On Friday, Representatives Sam Liccardo, Jimmy Panetta, and Ro Khanna sent a letter to the White House demanding an inquiry. They pledged that the next Congress would closely scrutinize federal funding awarded to Musk’s businesses if they gain control.