Elon Musk's millions fail to deliver Texas for the Republicans in fierce midterms
The billionaire's political action committee (Pac) contributed $47m (£35m) to Ken Paxton's campaign.
Elon Musk’s millions were not enough to hand Texas to Republicans in a hard-fought midterm battle.
Democrat James Talarico’s decisive win in the Texas Senate race delivered a major shock for Republicans in the midterms — and for Elon Musk. The billionaire’s political action committee (Pac) gave $47m (£35m) to Republican candidate Ken Paxton’s campaign, in addition to the $158m he donated to the Senate Leadership Fund in September.
Even so, the money could not prevent the seat from flipping to Democrat for the first time since 1988. In his victory speech, Talarico said: “We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas.”
“Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” Musk joked on X, external.
Talarico’s win was a crucial moment in the midterms, helping strengthen Democratic control of the US Congress amid a broad wave of victories across the country.
Musk has increasingly turned Texas into the center of his business empire, from Tesla’s Austin headquarters to SpaceX’s Starbase launch site.
Along with supporting Paxton through outside groups, the X owner used his own platform to push conspiracy theories about the Democrat, posting: “There is something deeply wrong with Talarico” after he briefly vanished from the campaign trail in October.
“There is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal US Senator,” Talarico replied.
In addition to helping fund one of the most expensive Senate races ever, the SpaceX owner also emerged as the biggest individual donor in this year’s midterms overall, contributing an estimated $446m in support of Republican candidates.
Musk’s donations were routed through Super Pacs, organizations that can raise unlimited amounts but cannot donate directly to candidates or coordinate with their campaigns.
Individuals, parties and traditional groups are subject to legal caps on direct donations.
Super Pacs bypass those limits by spending independently, for example on ads supporting a candidate.
Musk became one of the Republican Party’s largest donors in 2024, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into Donald Trump’s victorious presidential campaign.
This similarly staggering sum still was not enough to do the same for Paxton this time.