Voters nationwide appeared to reject Elon Musk’s campaign to help Republicans win office, despite the billionaire directing more than $445 million toward conservative candidates and political groups.
Federal Election Commission records show that Musk, the world’s richest person, had committed at least $445.7 million to Republican-aligned candidates and political action committees by October 29 during the midterm election cycle.
His political spending surged in the closing stretch of the campaign, with roughly $200 million deployed during the final two months before Election Day.
The spending has made Musk the GOP’s most influential financial supporter and the biggest individual donor in a single modern U.S. election cycle.
Through America PAC, Musk targeted 43 House and Senate contests, reaching voters through television spots, online advertising, text campaigns and direct mail.
The group reported 839 independent expenditures in House races and another 623 in Senate contests spanning 17 states.
Even so, Democrats reclaimed control of both chambers of Congress on Tuesday, with several traditionally Republican states shifting into the Democratic column.
As the results became clear, Musk joked on X: “Looks like my election-interfering space lasers failed this time.”
He followed that remark by suggesting that “data centers in space” might now look especially attractive.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, directed at least $445.7 million to Republican-aligned candidates and political action committees during the midterm elections
Voters appeared to push back against Musk’s attempt to influence the election. Campaign volunteer Buddy Luce holds an anti-Musk sign at a polling location in Keller, Texas, on Tuesday
After the election results emerged, Musk joked on X: “Looks like my election-interfering space lasers failed this time”
Texas received Musk’s largest political investment, with America PAC putting more than $33 million behind Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate bid against Democrat James Talarico.
About $28 million of that total went toward attacks on Talarico, including a Google advertisement that cost between $300,000 and $350,000 in October alone.
The advertisement claimed that “James Talarico supports parents being charged with child abuse if they do not support transitioning their children.” It was viewed more than 10 million times in eight days, according to The Guardian.
Musk separately gave $168 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which backed Paxton’s campaign.
He also amplified America PAC material to his more than 200 million followers on X, including an October attack ad accusing Talarico of wanting to “trans your kids and destroy the border.”
Musk is based in Texas and has established his own municipality in the isolated coastal area of Boca Chica, home to SpaceX’s Starship rocket launch and development site.
Construction is continuing in the community now known as Starbase, with plans and projects including a school, clinic, community center and more housing.
But Talarico, 37, defeated Paxton and became the first Democrat elected to Texas’ Senate delegation in 38 years.
He noted in his victory speech that his win was a win against billionaires and the world’s only trillionaire – Musk.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott was also ousted by Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa in a stunning upset as part of a ‘blue tsunami’ across the United States on a devastating night for Trump.
Musk’s America PAC spent more than $33 million on efforts to elect Attorney General Ken Paxton to the Senate over Democrat James Talarico. He also made a separate $168 million contribution to the Senate Leadership Fund, which supported the Paxton campaign
The results were also an apparent rejection of President Donald Trump, who encouraged voters to elect Paxton.
He had originally backed the Attorney General over incumbent Senator John Cornyn as they faced off in a Republican primary runoff after Cornyn criticized the president, at one point saying that ‘time has passed him by.’
With Trump’s endorsement, Paxton easily won the primary.
But some Senate Republicans saw this coming, with Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, warning that ‘we cannot hold Texas if John Cornyn is not our nominee.’
On Tuesday, Talarico’s crowd erupted when his victory was called at 10pm – but grew even louder when CNN called Hinojosa’s victory.
Before the race was officially called, Cornyn congratulated Talarico on social media.
‘The voters have spoken, and I want to extend my congratulations to James Talarico on his election to the U.S. Senate,’ Cornyn posted to X. ‘I look forward to meeting him and offering my assistance with his transition as he prepares to serve Texans in the U.S. Senate.’
Texas Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico addresses a crowd at a rally in Austin Monday night. On Tuesday, voters elected him the first US senator to represent Texas since 1988
President Donald Trump (left) stands alongside Texas Republican Senate hopeful, Attorney General Ken Paxton (right), during a campaign rally in Lubbock, Texas, last Tuesday
Yet Trump has denied that he is to blame for the midterm election bloodbath, instead suggesting the results are down to poor Republican candidates.
The president insisted his absence from the ballot explained the losses, despite repeatedly urging supporters to imagine he was running, including on Fox News the night before the election.
‘I wasn’t on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won in a landslide,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In a follow-up post, the president added: ‘I’m going to become a political pundit, both good and bad, on the reasons these candidates won and lost.’
A White House official echoed that sentiment in a statement to the Daily Mail.
‘Candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves,’ the official said.
‘Also, anyone who voted Democrat today is going to have a serious case of buyers’ remorse when gas prices come down quickly when the Iran conflict is solved but they’re still stuck with list of liberal extremist Democrats.
‘And a final note here: regardless of how today plays out, President Trump’s resolve to stop the Radical Left is only going to become stronger. Buckle up.’