Elon Musk could spend $200M boosting GOP as Texas’ Ken Paxton battles fundraising gap
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Elon Musk is likely to shell out nine-figure sums to help Republicans fend off Democrats in this year’s midterm elections — particularly in Texas, where GOP Senate hopeful Ken Paxton faces a massive fundraising disadvantage.
Officials briefed on the matter told Wired that Musk is expected to spend between $100 million and $200 million to boost Republicans, though the precise amount could change.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss is expected to focus his political war chest on voter turnout in competitive races, with the closely watched Texas contest between Paxton and Democrat James Talarico among the potential beneficiaries.
Talarico has raised $68.6 million through June 30, more than seven times the roughly $9.2 million hauled in by Paxton’s campaign, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
The Democrat also held $21.5 million in cash at the end of June compared with just $1.8 million for Paxton, the filings showed.
Despite the massive money gap, the race remains a toss-up.
An Emerson College poll conducted Aug. 9 and 10 had Paxton leading Talarico 47% to 46% among likely voters, while eight nonpartisan public polls conducted since the Republican runoff collectively show the race hovering around a dead heat.
Musk’s cash could help Paxton make up some of the difference, particularly if it is pumped into a sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation, according to Costas Panagopoulos, a distinguished professor of political science at Northeastern University.
“It’s a considerable sum that has the potential to shake things up in certain races across the country,” Panagopoulos told The Post.
“Money does not dictate outcomes in elections,” he added, but major spending can force opponents to spend more and “create communication imbalances that are hard to overcome.”
The strategy would build on Musk’s massive political operation during the 2024 presidential election, when he spent at least $288 million helping Donald Trump and other Republicans, according to an analysis of year-end FEC filings.
Most of Musk’s 2024 money flowed through America PAC, the super PAC he bankrolled to help Trump return to the White House.
Filings available by early December showed roughly $239 million from Musk going to the group, with a later year-end filing adding about $11.2 million in in-kind spending for petition incentives.
America PAC became a major part of Trump’s ground operation, paying third-party canvassing firms more than $46 million across battleground states to target low-propensity voters, according to Wired.
Trump ultimately swept six battleground states, though Trump officials were not convinced that America PAC’s paid canvassing operation — rather than the candidate’s own appeal to his base — deserved the credit.
Musk continued pouring money into Republican causes after Trump took office.
He gave more than $73 million to Republican causes in 2025, including roughly $45 million to America PAC, and wrote three separate $5 million checks on June 27 to MAGA Inc., the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Senate Leadership Fund.
His spending continued this year, including a $10 million January contribution to Fight for Kentucky, a super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidate Nate Morris, and at least $1.6 million attributed to Musk by America PAC through March 31.
Musk’s money could also be deployed beyond Texas, with Panagopoulos pointing to competitive Senate races in Georgia, Ohio and Maine as examples where large investments could potentially move the needle.
Democrats, however, are unlikely to leave Musk’s spending unanswered.
“This is not going to happen in a vacuum,” Panagopoulos said.
“Democrats will respond, and even if they can’t find someone with pockets as deep as this, there are other ways to raise funds to combat what might be happening on the Republican side.”