Topline
Elon Musk’s super PAC spent over $800,000 last month across several states with competitive Senate races as part of its first wave of spending for the upcoming midterm elections, filings made on Wednesday night showed.
SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk plans to spend more than $100 million to boost the GOP in the midterm cycle.
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Key Facts
The expenditure data showed that the billionaire’s PAC primarily poured resources into competitive Senate races in Texas, Maine, Ohio, New Hampshire, Michigan and a few other states.
The Texas Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton received the largest share of spending—around $248,000.
The Maine Senate race, which Democrats view as a key pickup opportunity, received the next largest tranche of spending at around $170,000.
In total, the PAC spent around $712,000 on seven Senate races—around 90% of the total disclosed expenses—and only around $88,000 on a small number of House races.
What Do We Know About Musk’s Spending Plan For The Midterms?
In July, the New York Times reported that Elon Musk has authorized America PAC to spend between $100 million and $120 million to back Republican candidates during the midterm cycle. The world’s richest man has donated more than $90.5 million for election spending for the midterms, giving primarily to his own super PAC. Musk’s support for GOP candidates comes a year after an explosive public falling out with President Donald Trump over his signature spending bill. At the time, Musk announced plans to form a separate “America Party” and suggested he may target “2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” with aligned third-party candidates. Despite his threats, the America Party never progressed beyond the billionaire’s social media posts, and he eventually reconciled with the president and the GOP.
Tangent
According to Politico, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told his GOP House colleagues in a closed door meeting on Monday that he met with Musk last week. The report said Johnson didn’t mention any specifics about Musk’s spending commitments, but Republican lawmakers who attended the meeting saw it as a sign that the billionaire may “unleash spending” in their favor. Polling and betting market data shows that Democrats are currently favored to take control of the House.
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