Musk Gave America PAC Over $76M As PAC Spent $15.2M On Texas Senate Race

Elon Musk transferred more than $76 million to America PAC during the first two weeks of October, according to a pre-election report the committee filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday evening.

The filing shows the PAC spent nearly $43 million over that same period and entered the campaign's final stretch with almost $47 million in cash. The Texas Senate contest took the largest share of that spending, absorbing $15.2 million, which is twice what the committee spent there across the entire summer. Of that amount, $12.4 million went to attacking Democrat James Talarico and $2.8 million to backing Republican Ken Paxton. Daily filings submitted after the reporting period show another $9.1 million directed against Talarico, bringing total spending against him this cycle to nearly $28 million, or roughly 40 percent of all the money the committee has spent supporting or opposing candidates. The PAC also allocated $11.4 million to digital advertising during the two-week window, close to what it spent on mail and texting combined.

An analysis of FEC filings indicates Musk has given more than $445 million to Republican political groups this election cycle, the largest known individual total in the midterms. More than $165 million of that has gone to America PAC since July alone. The committee declined to comment.

Musk has also posted about the race on X, writing Wednesday that "there is something deeply wrong with Talarico," calling the candidate "a creep," and claiming, without evidence, that Talarico "would vote to take away your kids and transition them." Talarico responded the same day: "There is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal US Senator."

An Emerson College poll of 1,000 likely Texas voters, conducted October 17 to 19, showed Talarico at 48 percent and Paxton at 46 percent, within the survey's 3-point margin of error. The committee spent $12.4 million attacking Talarico during the reporting period and $2.8 million promoting Paxton.

If Democrats take the House, committee chairs in line for the gavel have signaled investigations into Musk's role in the Department of Government Efficiency and the federal contracts held by his companies. Representatives Sam Liccardo, Jimmy Panetta and Ra Khanna wrote in a letter to the White House that the next Congress "will closely scrutinize federal funding awarded to Mr. Musk's businesses."