If Republicans win the midterms, Elon Musk’s money may be why

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Elon Musk has plowed nearly half a billion dollars into elections in the 2026 cycle, a spending spree that makes him the single, largest disclosed donor in modern American politics and one of the Republican Party’s largest-ever benefactors.

The world’s richest man has contributed more than $445 million to federal committees alone through mid-October – more than double the nearly $177 million that Democratic megadonor George Soros gave to outside groups during the 2022 cycle to become the largest known individual donor in the last midterm elections for Congress.

Musk’s money could “single-handedly” alter the course of the midterms, said Brendan Glavin, who oversees research at the nonprofit OpenSecrets. The group tracks political spending.

“One person is completely dominating and changing the landscape of how Republicans are able to spend money and defend themselves,” he said.

Musk has donated nearly $216 million to America PAC, the super PAC at the center of his political operation. The group’s activity spans more than 40 House and Senate races this fall, according to federal campaign data.

But nowhere has the billionaire spent more than in Texas, where he lives and has headquartered parts of his business empire.

The key Senate contest there between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton could determine which party controls the chamber during the last two years of President Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House.

America PAC has funded mailers, digital advertising and other outreach to Texas voters in an effort to defeat Talarico and other Democrats.

But far more Musk money – at least $168 million so far – has been deployed in Texas through other groups. A pair of donations last month, for instance, from the SpaceX CEO to the Senate Leadership Fund, a leading Republican super PAC, were quickly funneled to a second group, Texas PAC, that has issued blistering attacks against Talarico on the airwaves, recent disclosures show.

Much of the anti-Talarico messaging seeks to portray him as out of step with Texas values, with some citing his vote as a state legislator against a 2023 law banning gender surgeries and other medical interventions for minors. (Talarico’s campaign has said he does not support gender surgery for children but opposed the bill because it was overly broad.)

Musk also has donated $10 million to the pro-Paxton Lone Star Liberty PAC, which as CNN’s KFILE reported this week, has underwritten AI-generated robocalls attacking Talarico.

"Hi, is this Julio? Hi. My name is Jennifer and I’m a virtual staffer"

Lone Star Liberty, a super PAC supporting Ken Paxton in his campaign to win a seat in the US Senate, is using an AI-powered robocall campaign in Texas to attack Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico.

A spokesperson for Musk’s America PAC declined to comment.

But Republicans familiar with the strategy said the PAC is broadly focused on helping the GOP retain control of Congress next year and describe Musk’s move to shoulder some of the Texas advertising costs as freeing other GOP groups to deploy resources elsewhere to protect the Senate majority.

In a statement, the Senate Leadership Fund’s executive director Alex Latcham said the donors who stepped up to fund Texas PAC “ensured that we did not have to divert any resources from other key races” and have allowed the group “to run effective campaigns across the map.”

From America PAC/Meta Ad Library

Talarico has raised more money than any other federal candidate this cycle, $146 million through October 14, more than six times the $22.3 million collected by Paxton, according to Federal Election Commission records . And a CNN poll released Thursday shows the Democrat with a narrow lead over Paxton.

But Talarico has faced an onslaught of outside spending from pro-Paxton interests, including those funded by Musk, in recent weeks. In the final four weeks of the Texas Senate campaign, Democrats have been outspent by Republicans on ads by more than 2 to 1, $118.9 million to $54.7 million, according to AdImpact data.

Dave Carney, a top political adviser to Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott’s reelection campaign, says Republicans in the state believe the spending by Musk and other GOP groups is starting to exact a toll on Talarico.

“It has taken the pretty boy, neighbor next door, cute moderate nice guy and has exposed his voting record,” Carney told CNN this week.

Talarico is increasingly taking aim at Musk to highlight his outsized role in the Texas race, as Democrats work to motivate their voters to turn out in the final stretch.

“Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat,” Talarico said during a recent rally as he ticked off the breadth of Musk-funded activity in the state.

“In all likelihood, if you’ve seen an attack ad on your TV, that was Elon,” he said. “If you’ve gotten lies in your mailbox, that was Elon. If you’ve received a text message saying scary things about me, that was Elon, too.”

A recent digital ad from Talarico reinforced the message, saying Paxton “will owe him everything” if Musk’s money helps to elect the Republican.

A Paxton spokesperson did not respond to CNN’s inquiry.

Democrats have sought to use Musk as a foil to spur turnout before.

In Wisconsin last year, a $20 million spending blitz by Musk and aligned groups – along with his decision to campaign in the state – became a central message for Democrats who soundly defeated Musk’s preferred candidate in a state Supreme Court contest.

Other Democratic ads that year used images of Musk holding a chainsaw aloft to highlight his controversial and short-lived tenure running the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.

This year, Musk has kept a lower profile, even as his political spending has soared to new heights. He has not campaigned with candidates.

But he has used X, the social media platform he controls to amplify his criticism of Talarico with increasing frequency. In the last week, he’s posted more than a dozen times about the Democrat, often disparaging him as “far-left extremist.”

Musk and his spending loom large over the election, said Lynda Tran, a Democratic strategist based in Washington.

The billionaire may not be on stage “wielding a chainsaw and other theatrics,” she said, “but there’s no way to hide the ball on the contributions he’s making or how much he cares about various Republican races.”

CNN’s David Wright contributed to this report.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

埃隆·马斯克已向 2026 年的选举投入了近 5 亿美元，这一巨额支出使他成为现代美国政治史上公开披露的最大捐助者，也是共和党有史以来最大的捐助者之一。

截至 10 月中旬，世界首富已向联邦委员会捐款超过 4.45 亿美元——是民主党超级捐款人乔治·索罗斯在 2022 年选举周期中向外部团体捐款近 1.77 亿美元的两倍多，索罗斯也因此成为上次国会中期选举中已知最大的个人捐款人。

非营利组织OpenSecrets的研究主管布伦丹·格拉文表示，马斯克的资金可能“凭借一己之力”改变中期选举的走向。该组织追踪政治支出。

他说：“一个人正在完全主导并改变共和党人花钱和自卫的方式。”

马斯克已向其政治运作的核心——超级政治行动委员会“美国政治行动委员会”（America PAC）捐赠了近2.16亿美元。据联邦竞选数据显示，该组织的活动涵盖了今年秋季超过40场众议院和参议院的选举。

但这位亿万富翁在德克萨斯州的花费最多，他不仅居住在那里，而且他的部分商业帝国总部也设在那里。

民主党人詹姆斯·塔拉里科和共和党人肯·帕克斯顿之间的关键参议院竞选，可能会决定在唐纳德·特朗普总统执政的最后两年里，哪个党派控制参议院。

美国政治行动委员会（America PAC）资助了邮寄宣传品、数字广告和其他面向德克萨斯州选民的宣传活动，旨在击败塔拉里科和其他民主党人。

但马斯克投入德克萨斯州的资金远不止于此——迄今为止至少有1.68亿美元——是通过其他团体进行的。例如，上个月，这位SpaceX首席执行官向共和党超级政治行动委员会“参议院领导基金”捐赠的两笔款项，很快就被转给了另一个团体“德克萨斯政治行动委员会”。根据最近披露的信息，该委员会曾在广播电视上对塔拉里科发起猛烈抨击。

许多反对塔拉里科的言论都试图将他描绘成与德克萨斯州的价值观格格不入，一些人甚至指出，他作为州议员时曾投票反对一项2023年禁止对未成年人进行变性手术和其他医疗干预的法案。（塔拉里科的竞选团队表示，他并不支持对儿童进行变性手术，但他反对这项法案是因为其范围过于宽泛。）

马斯克还向支持帕克斯顿的“孤星自由政治行动委员会”（Lone Star Liberty PAC）捐赠了 1000 万美元。正如 CNN 的 KFILE 本周报道的那样，该委员会资助了人工智能生成的自动语音电话攻击塔拉里科。

“你好，请问是胡里奥吗？你好。我叫詹妮弗，是一名远程工作人员。”

支持肯·帕克斯顿竞选美国参议院席位的超级政治行动委员会“孤星自由”正在德克萨斯州利用人工智能驱动的自动语音电话活动攻击民主党参议院候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科。

马斯克的美国政治行动委员会发言人拒绝置评。

但熟悉该策略的共和党人表示，该政治行动委员会的主要目标是帮助共和党在明年继续控制国会，并称马斯克承担部分德克萨斯州广告费用的举动，是为了让其他共和党团体能够将资源部署到其他地方，以保住参议院的多数席位。

参议院领导基金执行主任亚历克斯·拉奇姆在一份声明中表示，为德克萨斯州政治行动委员会提供资金的捐助者“确保我们不必从其他关键竞选中挪用任何资源”，并使该组织“能够在各地开展有效的竞选活动”。

来自美国政治行动委员会/元广告库

根据联邦选举委员会的记录，截至10月14日，塔拉里科筹集的资金比本届联邦选举周期中的任何其他候选人都多，达到1.46亿美元，是帕克斯顿筹集的2230万美元的六倍多。周四公布的CNN民调显示，这位民主党候选人以微弱优势领先于帕克斯顿。

但近几周来，塔拉里科面临着来自支持帕克斯顿的各方势力的猛烈外部资金攻势，其中包括马斯克资助的势力。根据AdImpact的数据，在德克萨斯州参议院竞选的最后四周，民主党在广告上的支出比共和党少了2倍多，分别为1.189亿美元和5470万美元。

德克萨斯州共和党州长格雷格·阿博特竞选连任的高级政治顾问戴夫·卡尼表示，该州的共和党人认为，马斯克和其他共和党团体的支出开始对塔拉里科造成影响。

“它揭露了这位英俊的邻居、可爱的温和好男人的投票记录，”卡尼本周告诉 CNN。

塔拉里科越来越频繁地将矛头指向马斯克，以凸显他在德克萨斯州竞选中的重要作用，民主党人正努力激励选民在最后阶段积极投票。

“埃隆·马斯克正试图用金钱买下这个参议院席位，”塔拉里科在最近的一次集会上说道，同时列举了马斯克在该州资助的各项活动。

“很有可能，如果你在电视上看到过攻击我的广告，那都是埃隆干的，”他说。“如果你在邮箱里收到过谎言，那也是埃隆干的。如果你收到过说我坏话的短信，那也是埃隆干的。”

Talarico 最近发布的一则数字广告强化了这一信息，称如果马斯克的资金帮助共和党人当选，帕克斯顿“将欠他一切”。

帕克斯顿的发言人没有回应 CNN 的询问。

民主党人此前就曾试图利用马斯克作为反面人物来刺激投票率。

去年在威斯康星州，马斯克及其盟友斥资 2000 万美元进行竞选活动，加上他决定在该州开展竞选活动，这成为民主党人的核心信息，他们在州最高法院的竞选中彻底击败了马斯克支持的候选人。

同年，其他民主党广告也使用了马斯克高举电锯的画面，以突出他执掌特朗普政府政府效率部期间充满争议且短暂的任期。

今年，尽管马斯克的政治支出飙升至新高，但他一直保持低调。他没有与任何候选人一起参加竞选活动。

但他利用自己控制的社交媒体平台X，越来越频繁地抨击塔拉里科。过去一周，他发布了十几条关于这位民主党人的帖子，经常贬低他为“极左极端分子”。

华盛顿的民主党策略师琳达·特兰表示，马斯克及其支出对选举结果影响巨大。

她说，这位亿万富翁可能不会像某些人那样“挥舞着电锯，做出其他夸张的表演”，但“他所做的贡献以及他对共和党各党派竞选的关心程度，都是不争的事实”。

CNN的戴维·赖特对本报道亦有贡献。