Musk Adds Millions to Midterm Push

Elon Musk has poured another $76 million into his personal political committee, America PAC, to support Republican candidates in the final stretch of the midterms. According to a pre-election report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday evening, this injection of cash came in the first two weeks of October. The committee spent nearly $43 million during that same period and now holds close to $47 million in cash as the election approaches.

The Texas Senate race received the largest share of this new spending. The PAC directed $15.2 million to the state, which is double the amount spent there during the entire summer. Of that total, $12.4 million was used to attack Democratic candidate James Talarico, while $2.8 million went to promote Republican Ken Paxton. Daily filings since the report show an additional $9.1 million spent against Talarico. This brings the total spending against him this cycle to nearly $28 million. That figure represents about 40 percent of everything the PAC has spent to support or oppose candidates.

The committee also shifted its advertising strategy. In the same two-week window, it spent $11.4 million on digital ads. This amount is close to what the group spent on mail and texting combined. This marks a noticeable move toward online platforms for its campaign messages.

This latest contribution is part of a larger trend. Analysis of Federal Election Commission filings shows that Musk has given more than $445 million to Republican political groups this election cycle. This makes him the biggest known individual donor in the midterms. More than $165 million of that total has gone to America PAC since July alone.

Musk, whose companies Tesla and SpaceX are based in Texas, has been vocal about the race online as well. On Wednesday, he posted on X that there is something deeply wrong with Talarico. He later called the candidate a creep and claimed, without evidence, that Talarico would vote to take away your kids and transition them. Earlier this month, Musk amplified a false claim that Talarico had been treated at a mental health facility. Talarico responded to that claim the same day. He stated that there is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal US Senator.

The race remains very close. An Emerson College poll of 1,000 likely Texas voters, conducted from October 17 to 19, found Talarico at 48 percent and Paxton at 46 percent. This margin is within the poll's three-point margin of error. The result suggests the outcome is still uncertain.

The stakes for Musk extend beyond the Texas vote. If Democrats win the House, the lawmakers who may lead its committees have signaled they will investigate his role in the Department of Government Efficiency. They also plan to look into his companies' federal contracts. Representative Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, described the number of potential conflicts of interest as astounding. Unified Democratic control of Congress would pose even greater challenges for him.

Silicon Valley Democrats have added another target to their list. On Friday, they sent a letter to the White House demanding an investigation into restrictions on SpaceX's Starshield satellite service in Ukraine. Representatives Sam Liccardo, Jimmy Panetta, and Ro Khanna signed the letter. They vowed that the next Congress will closely scrutinize federal funding awarded to Mr. Musk's businesses.

America PAC declined to comment on the new spending or the current state of the races. The committee will continue to operate until the votes are counted. For now, the financial war chest remains one of the most significant assets in the upcoming election.