Musk Gave $158 Million to a Senate GOP Super PAC That Poured $100 Million Into Texas
FEC filings show two September gifts to the Senate Leadership Fund, each followed a day later by an equal transfer to a group backing Ken Paxton against Democrat James Talarico.
Elon Musk has put more than $150 million into the Republican effort to hold the Senate, with the largest share flowing into the Texas race where Ken Paxton is locked in a tight contest, Federal Election Commission filings show.
Musk gave $75 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans, on September 9, and another $83 million about two weeks later, for $158 million in all. The two gifts accounted for more than half of everything the group took in during the third quarter. One day after each Musk contribution, the fund sent the same amount to Texas PAC, a group backing Paxton. Texas PAC has reported more than $100 million in spending to support Paxton and oppose his Democratic opponent, James Talarico.
That was not Musk's only spending. He gave more than $80 million between July and September to America PAC, the group that was his main political vehicle in 2024, and it has spent on the Texas Senate race and several competitive House contests. His trust gave $10 million in August to Lone Star Liberty PAC, another pro-Paxton group, and $20 million in September to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the House Republicans' primary super PAC.
The money marks a return. Musk spent more than $250 million backing President Trump and other Republicans in 2024, making him that cycle's top political donor. After he left the Department of Government Efficiency and briefly feuded with Trump, it was unclear whether he would spend at that level again. Last year he suggested he would scale back, joking, "I think I've done enough." He lives in Texas, where SpaceX and Tesla have large operations, and has recently criticized Talarico.
The race is one Republicans cannot afford to lose. Paxton, the state attorney general, beat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a bitter primary earlier this year. Talarico has pointed to Paxton's history of scandal and would be the first Democrat to win statewide in Texas in more than three decades. Paxton, his allies and Trump argue that Talarico is too far left for Texas voters. Most recent polls show Talarico within the margin of error and slightly ahead.
An America PAC spokesperson, Andrew Romeo, said that if Democrats win control of Washington and key governor and attorney general races in November, "America risks becoming a socialist, woke and borderless country."
Because the transfers moved from Musk to the Senate Leadership Fund to Texas PAC within a day, the filings show a direct line from one donor to one Senate race. With Election Day weeks away, the cash lets Paxton's side saturate Texas television and mail at a scale few Senate campaigns ever see, and it raises the stakes of a contest that could decide which party controls the chamber.
