Elon Musk has spent more than $276 million in newly revealed donations to Republican groups since July, making him the largest known donor to the 2026 midterm elections as the party fights to retain its majority in Washington in November.
The largest share — $158 million — went to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates, according to figures provided by Musk’s representatives to the New York Times and confirmed Monday to CNBC by Lindsey Curnutte, a spokesperson for Musk’s U.S. PAC.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO also gave more than $76 million to America PAC, the group he founded during the 2024 elections, which has built a massive voter turnout operation in competitive Senate and House races.
These new contributions bring Musk’s known federal political donations for the 2025-2026 cycle to approximately $366 million, already surpassing the approximately $290 million he spent in the 2024 presidential election. The scale of this latest donation is historic: Elon Musk’s $158 million contribution to the Senate Leadership Fund is one of the largest known political donations from an individual in history of the United States.
The new figures were disclosed days before the Federal Election Commission’s Thursday filing deadline, when political committees must report their third-quarter finances.
The Senate Leadership Fund has spent a lot of money this cycle defending the Republican majority, including in Texas, where GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton is running against Democrat James Talarico. Talarico leads Paxton 48.4% to 45.0% in the FiftyPlusOne poll average as of October 12.
Musk separately gave $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, which supports Paxton. He also contributed $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC supporting House Republicans, $10 million to the Republican Governors Association and $2 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association, the Times reported and Curnutte confirmed.
The billionaire’s footprint in Texas has grown rapidly in recent years, with Tesla, X and The Boring Company now headquartered in the state and SpaceX expanding its manufacturing and launch operations there.
The political spending is also a sharp turnaround from Musk’s public comments last year.
“In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk said in May 2025.
At the time, Musk was taking a step back after a highly visible role in President Donald Trump’s administration and a public falling out with the president. The two have since mended their relationship, appearing together at several recent events.
Musk also has close ties to the federal government through SpaceX, a major contractor to NASA and the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also named him last month co-director of Project Meridian, a Pentagon group that studies the future of warfare.
— Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.
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