Billionaire Elon Musk donated $158 million last month to the main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans, which almost immediately sent the money to a group that supports Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Republicans are fighting to hold on to the Texas Senate seat, as polls indicate a tight race between Paxton and Democratic opponent James Talarico.
Musk’s aid — along with tens of millions of dollars in donations to other groups — marks a decisive return to large-scale political donations for the world’s richest man, who has spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars support President Trump and other Republican candidates in 2024.
Musk donated $75 million to the Senate Leadership Fund (PAC) on September 9, and $83 million two weeks later, the group reported Thursday. Together, Musk’s two colossal donations accounted for more than half of the super PAC’s total revenue in the third quarter of this year.
A day after each donation, the Senate Leadership Fund PAC contributed the same amount to the Texas PAC. This group reported pro-Paxton and anti-Talarico spending of more than $100 million.
Musk also donated more than $80 million from July to September to his own group, America PAC, which has been the main vehicle for his political donations in 2024. The group said he spent on the Texas Senate race and several other competitive congressional races.
Musk – who has sharply criticized Talarico in recent weeks – is a Texas resident, and his largest companies, SpaceX and Tesla, base many of their operations in the state.
Talarico is trying to become the first Democrat to win a statewide race in Texas in more than three decades. He sought to capitalize on Paxton’s history of scandal and still-lingering divisions among Texas Republicans after Paxton defeated incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in a bitter primary contest earlier this year. Paxton and his allies, including Mr. Trump, argued that Talarico was too far left for the Texas electorate.
The most recent polls give Talarico a lead within the margin of error. If Paxton loses his seat, it could deal a serious blow to Republicans’ efforts to retain the Senate.
After Musk was the country’s largest political donor in the 2024 cycle, it was initially unclear whether he planned to spend similar amounts in the next election. His tenure as head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Effectiveness ended in a brief feud with the president, and he suggested at some point last year that he planned to cut back on his political spending, joking in an interview: “I think I’ve done enough.”
America PAC spokesperson Andrew Romeo said in a statement to CBS News: “If Democrats take control of Washington and win key elections for governor and attorney general in November, then America risks becoming a socialist, woke, borderless country.” These robust investments allowed the Republican apparatus to get its message across so that Republicans could have a chance to defy history.
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