Midterm Cash: America PAC Reports $76 Million From Musk

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 close to $43 million over that period and carried almost $47 million in cash into the campaign's final weeks.

The Texas Senate contest took the largest share of that money. America PAC allocated $15.2 million to the race, double the amount it spent there across the entire summer. Of that sum, $12.4 million went toward advertising against Democrat James Talarico and $2.8 million supported Republican Ken Paxton. Filings submitted since then show another $9.1 million directed against Talarico, bringing total spending opposing him to nearly $28 million, which is about 40 percent of what the PAC has spent backing or opposing candidates this cycle. The committee also spent $11.4 million on digital advertising during the two-week window, close to what it spent on mail and texting combined.

An analysis of Federal Election Commission filings shows Musk has given more than $445 million to Republican political groups this cycle, the largest known individual total in the midterms. America PAC has received more than $165 million from him since July. A representative for the committee declined to comment. Musk, whose companies include Tesla and SpaceX and operate in Texas, has also posted about the race on X, writing Wednesday that "there is something deeply wrong with Talarico" and calling him "a creep." 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 through 19 put Talarico at 48 percent and Paxton at 46 percent, within the survey's 3-point margin of error. The House committee leaders positioned to take control if Democrats win the chamber have said they would examine Musk's role in the Department of Government Efficiency, the federal contracts held by his companies, and what California Democrat Zoe Lofgren called an "astounding" number of conflicts of interest.

Representatives Sam Liccardo, Jimmy Panetta and Ro Khanna have asked the White House to investigate restrictions on SpaceX's Starshield satellite service in Ukraine. In the letter, they wrote that the next Congress "will closely scrutinize federal funding awarded to Mr. Musk's businesses." The Texas general election is set for November 3.

The Texas general election is set for November 3.