Almost half a billion dollars. That is how much one man has put into America's midterm elections.
Elon Musk has given $446 million to Republican-aligned groups this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission filings. No other individual donor comes close.
Where the money went:
🔹 Nearly $216 million to America PAC, the super PAC Musk set up in 2024
🔹 $168 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC backing Republican Senate candidates
🔹 $30 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund for House races
🔹 $10 million to the Republican Governors Association
Texas, where Musk lives and runs SpaceX and Tesla, has been the centre of his spending. In September he gave the Senate Leadership Fund $75 million and then $83 million. Each time, a matching amount was passed on within a day to a group backing Republican Ken Paxton in his Senate race against Democrat James Talarico.
The next biggest donors are far behind. Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein have given about $150 million and Jeff and Janine Yass about $110 million, both to Republican causes. On the Democratic side, George Soros leads with about $102 million.
The overall bill is breaking records too. OpenSecrets, which tracks money in US politics, projects total spending of about $11.9 billion. That is roughly 30% more than the 2022 midterms, the previous record. Filings up to mid-October showed more than $9.5 billion already spent, about $5.5 billion of it by political action committees.
Campaign finance expert Michael Beckel said the spending is shattering records, with more of the money coming from the wealthiest donors and groups.
It marks a turnaround for Musk. After leaving his government cost-cutting role in May 2025 following a public split with President Trump, he said he planned to spend "a lot less" on politics. His total this cycle is now well above the roughly $290 million he spent in 2024.
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