Elon Musk’s midterm spending ran to at least $446 million, a record for one donor in the super PAC era. Almost none of it bought a win. His own super PAC, America PAC, spent about $87 million directly on 44 federal races. In the Senate, Republicans lost all six races it fought that had been called by Wednesday morning, including Texas, where Musk’s groups put in the most.
That matters beyond one bad night for a donor. The Democratic Congress that takes over in January will run the committees that oversee his companies’ contracts, subsidies and regulators. The Democrat in line to chair House Oversight has already told Republicans and their allies to “lawyer up”.
Where Musk’s money went
Before the vote we reported Musk’s $446 million total for the 2025-26 cycle, the Washington Post’s count of FEC filings, against our own sum of about $444 million. That is still the documented figure. It runs only to the end of the last pre-election report, on Oct. 14.
Other tallies are higher. CNBC now puts the total at “at least $474 million”, and Reuters says “nearly half a billion”. Neither report we opened itemises the extra money. Post-general reports, covering through Nov. 23, are due Dec. 3, and they will settle it.
Most of the money went to three groups. America PAC took about $216 million, including in-kind support, and its pre-general report shows $74.8 million in cash from Musk between Oct. 6 and Oct. 14.
The Senate Leadership Fund took $168 million, including $75 million on Sept. 9 and $83 million on Sept. 23. The Congressional Leadership Fund took $30 million.
The Senate Leadership Fund passed Musk’s $158 million in September money to Texas PAC, which backed Ken Paxton, CBS News reported. Musk’s trust also gave $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, another pro-Paxton group. Newsweek reported a further $5 million to Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign, which is state money outside the federal totals.
America PAC’s Senate scorecard
America PAC is the one vehicle Musk funds almost alone. Like other super PACs, it files short 24- and 48-hour reports to the FEC on the ads, mail and texts it pays for in federal races. We added up every one of those reports in the FEC’s independent expenditure data, through the last report filed on Nov. 2.
The total is $86.8 million across 44 races, matching CNBC’s count of “nearly $87 million” in 44 races. Seven Senate races took $74 million of it. Spending figures combine ads for the Republican and ads against the Democrat.
| Senate race | America PAC spending (FEC) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | $47.3 million | James Talarico (D) beat Ken Paxton (R). AP called it late Tuesday; CBS News projected it at 10:59 p.m. ET |
| Ohio | $9.7 million | Sherrod Brown (D) beat Sen. Jon Husted (R). CBS News projected it at 11:15 p.m. ET |
| Michigan | $9.2 million | Abdul El-Sayed (D) beat Mike Rogers (R). AP called it at 2:27 a.m. ET Wednesday |
| Iowa | $3.3 million | Josh Turek (D) beat Ashley Hinson (R). CBS News projected it at 11:47 p.m. ET |
| Maine | $2.3 million | Troy Jackson (D) beat Sen. Susan Collins (R). CBS News projected it at 12:52 a.m. ET Wednesday |
| Alaska | $1.3 million | Uncalled: Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) vs. Mary Peltola (D) |
| New Hampshire | $1.0 million | Chris Pappas (D) beat John Sununu (R). CBS News projected it at 8:23 p.m. ET |
Sources: FEC 24- and 48-hour reports (our tally); AP results via PBS NewsHour; times from the CBS News results blog.
The money went where Republicans were already behind
The other $12.8 million went to 37 House districts, none above $680,000. By CNBC’s count on Wednesday morning, candidates America PAC backed had lost 29 of its 44 races and won three, with 12 uncalled. More than $80 million, about 93% of its spending, went into races Republicans lost.
None of this was a long shot in either direction. Six of its seven Senate races were in the last New York Times/Siena polls, which had the Democrat ahead in five and Iowa tied, as our final look at the polls showed. America PAC spent most where the polls said Republicans were behind, and it did not close the gap.
Texas took the most and flipped anyway
Texas was the Senate race we flagged as a test of whether money could hold a red seat. FEC reports show three Musk-funded groups spent $256.6 million on it: America PAC’s $47.3 million, Texas PAC’s $181.9 million and Lone Star Liberty PAC’s $27.5 million, some of it in the spring primary. About $170 million of that attacked Talarico.
That overstates Musk’s share, since the two Texas groups had other donors too. CNBC puts Musk’s own Texas money at $224 million.
Talarico is the first Democrat to win a Texas Senate race since 1988. He made Musk a campaign issue, and on Wednesday he told CBS Mornings his win was a message to “the world’s first trillionaire” that Texas is “not for sale”. Musk, he said, “wanted his very own personal senator.”
Musk’s push ran to the last day. He posted “Vote red today!” on Tuesday, Gizmodo reported, and Reuters said he later deleted his election-day appeal. His pinned post from Oct. 30 warned that a Democratic sweep would mean “America becoming a permanent one-party state”.
After the results, he joked about them. “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” he wrote on X, according to AFP. He followed with “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”
America PAC’s case was that Republicans needed the money to compete. Spokesman Andrew Romeo told The New York Times in October that the spending had “allowed the GOP apparatus to get its message out so Republicans can have a fighting chance,” Al Jazeera reported. Musk also gave $10 million in January to a super PAC backing Nate Morris in Kentucky’s Senate primary, Newsweek reported. Morris lost to Andy Barr, who won the seat on Tuesday.
Why Musk’s companies are exposed now
Reuters framed the night as a business story: Musk’s business empire braces for a Democratic wave. Shares of SpaceX fell 5.5% and Tesla 5.1% on Wednesday, it said, both trailing the wider market.
The exposure comes through oversight. Rep. Robert Garcia, in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, had a two-word message for Republicans and their allies: “Lawyer up,” Reuters reported. Democrats have already questioned the government contracts and subsidies that flow to Musk’s companies, his DOGE job cuts and Starlink restrictions on Ukraine’s military.
SpaceX alone has won at least $6.78 billion in federal work this year, CNBC reported in October, citing FedScout.
In the Senate, Richard Blumenthal said he would investigate Musk and DOGE if Democrats won, The Washington Post reported on Oct. 23. As a minority member, he had lacked subpoena power. With Democrats now in control of both chambers, that changes in January.
Musk’s reply on X was “Live by the sword, die by the sword.” He added that he would “find out who is really pulling the strings”.
Texas adds a second front. Gina Hinojosa, who unseated Abbott, had sued for emails between Musk and Abbott, Reuters noted. She opposed a possible sale of a beachfront state park to SpaceX and wants a halt to new data center projects. Analysts expect Democrats in Washington to push such moratoriums too, which bears on SpaceX’s AI plans.
The new Congress, and with it the committee gavels, arrives on Jan. 3. The next hard number on Musk’s money comes first: the post-general FEC reports due Dec. 3 will show what he gave after Oct. 14.
