Musk Spent Hundreds Of Millions Backing Republicans Who Lost Midterm Races
Elon Musk’s election spending failed to deliver many wins in races counted so far, with major defeats in Texas and other states.
Elon Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting Republican candidates in the US midterms, but many of the races counted so far went against his choices. Engadget, citing federal filings reported by Forbes, put his spending at nearly $500 million. WIRED reported that Musk and his America PAC had spent more than $400 million backing Republicans since Donald Trump returned to office. Their figures cover different spending periods and categories, and some election results remain outstanding.
Table of Contents
Different tallies, similar results so far
Engadget counted Musk-backed Republicans across 106 House and Senate races. At the time of its report, 18 had won, 45 had lost and 43 races had not been called. It said the winners were mostly in reliably Republican areas.
WIRED used a narrower measure: races targeted by ads from Musk’s America PAC. Its analysis found one win, 20 losses and 21 races still uncalled. WIRED said the PAC had spent nearly $87 million on ads targeting 42 midterm races, while Musk had directed more than $229 million to other political groups. According to its analysis, more than 99 cents of every traceable dollar Musk put into a decided race went to one he lost. The two outlets’ win-loss counts describe different sets of races and should not be read as competing totals for the same activity.
Texas was a major setback
Both reports identified Texas as a focus of Musk’s spending. Engadget, citing CNBC, said he directed around $225 million to the state. WIRED detailed spending in its Senate contest: through mid-October, a Musk-funded group had spent $148 million, while America PAC added another $47 million. The Associated Press called the race for Democrat James Talarico over Republican Ken Paxton, according to WIRED.
The losses extended to other states. WIRED reported that America PAC ran ads in seven Senate races; of the six called when it published, Musk’s side had lost all six, including contests in Michigan, Iowa, Maine and Ohio. Alaska remained uncalled. Engadget also pointed to losses in Kansas and Minnesota, while cautioning that its totals could change as more races were called.
Potential consequences for Musk’s Texas businesses
WIRED reported that Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whose office oversaw more than $1.6 billion in tax incentives connected to Musk’s interests. The outlet said Democrats would consequently gain authority over matters affecting his Texas operations, which include Tesla’s robotaxi fleet and SpaceX’s Starbase launch site and chip-plant project. It did not report any change to those projects or incentives.
For tech professionals following the election, the immediate result is political rather than operational: candidates Musk backed lost key races, but the reports do not establish what the new officeholders will do about his companies.
Sources
This story was compiled by AI from the reports below. Read the originals for the full details.