Voters across the United States appeared to reject Elon Musk’s campaign to help elect Republicans after the billionaire invested more than $445 million in conservative candidates and causes.
Musk, the world’s richest person, directed at least $445.7 million to Republican-aligned political action committees and candidates ahead of the midterm elections as of October 29, according to data from the U.S. Federal Election Commission.
His spending surged in the closing stages of the campaign, rising by roughly $200 million during its final two months.
The outlay made Musk the GOP’s most prominent financial backer and the largest single-cycle donor in modern American history.
His America PAC targeted 43 House and Senate contests nationwide, reaching voters through television commercials, digital advertising, text messages and mailers.
Overall, the group reported 839 independent expenditures in House races and 623 in Senate races spanning 17 states.
Despite that effort, Democrats reclaimed control of both chambers of Congress on Tuesday as several deeply Republican states shifted to the left.
After the results came in, Musk wrote on X: ‘Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time.’
He added: ‘Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.’
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, directed at least $445.7 million to GOP-aligned political action committees and candidates during the midterm elections
Voters across the country appeared to reject Musk’s attempt to influence the election. Campaign volunteer Buddy Luce holds an anti-Musk sign at a polling station in Keller, Texas, on Tuesday
After the results were announced, Musk wrote on X: ‘Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time’
Musk spent more in Texas than anywhere else, where his America PAC put more than $33 million behind Attorney General Ken Paxton’s bid for the Senate against Democrat James Talarico.
The PAC devoted $28 million to attacks on Talarico, including an October Google ad that cost between $300,000 and $350,000 and targeted the Democratic candidate.
‘James Talarico supports parents being charged with child abuse if they do not support transitioning their children,’ the ad stated. It was shown more than 10 million times over an eight-day period, according to The Guardian.
Musk separately contributed $168 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which backed Paxton’s campaign.
He also used his X account to amplify America PAC material to more than 200 million followers. One October attack ad claimed that ‘Talarico wants to trans your kids and destroy the border.’
The Tesla founder lives in Texas and has established his own municipality in the remote coastal area of Boca Chica, where SpaceX has developed and launched its ambitious Starship rocket.
Several construction projects are underway in the city of Starbase, including a community center, school, medical clinic and additional homes.
Talarico, 37, nevertheless defeated Paxton, becoming the first Democrat elected to Texas’ Senate delegation in 38 years.
In his victory speech, he described the result as a rebuke of billionaires, including Musk, whom he called the world’s only trillionaire.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott was also defeated by Democrat Gina Hinojosa in a stunning upset, part of a ‘blue tsunami’ that swept across the country during a devastating night for Trump.
Musk’s America PAC spent more than $33 million to support Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign against Democrat James Talarico. Musk also gave $168 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which backed Paxton
The outcome also appeared to represent a rejection of President Donald Trump, who had urged voters to support Paxton.
Trump initially backed the attorney general over incumbent Senator John Cornyn during a Republican primary runoff. Cornyn had criticized the president, saying at one point that ‘time has passed him by.’
With Trump’s endorsement, Paxton won the primary comfortably.
Some Senate Republicans had warned that the strategy could put the state at risk. Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said, ‘we cannot hold Texas if John Cornyn is not our nominee.’
On Tuesday, Talarico’s supporters erupted when his victory was called at 10 p.m. The crowd became even louder when CNN projected Hinojosa as the winner.
Before the Senate 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 wrote on 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 candidate James Talarico speaks to supporters at a rally in Austin on Monday night. On Tuesday, voters elected him as the first U.S. senator to represent Texas since 1988
President Donald Trump (left) stands with Texas Republican Senate candidate and Attorney General Ken Paxton (right) at a campaign rally in Lubbock, Texas, last Tuesday
Trump has rejected claims that he was responsible for the midterm losses, instead arguing that weak Republican candidates were to blame.
The president also said his absence from the ballot explained the defeats, despite repeatedly urging supporters to imagine that he was running, including during an appearance 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 message, he 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 expressed a similar view in a statement to Our News Outlet.
‘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 a 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.’
