It is the most anyone has ever donated to other people’s campaigns in a single election cycle.
KENT NISHIMURA/AFP via Getty Images
Elon Musk has burned through an eye-watering stack of cash in a totally failed bid to influence the midterms.
The world’s richest man donated a record amount during the 2026 midterms, giving almost half a billion dollars to GOP causes.
It didn’t pay off, as his party lost the House and saw Senate seats in Kansas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, Ohio, Maine, and his home state of Texas, turn blue.
Talarico smoked Paxton by double digits.
In all, he gave $474 million, according to The New York Times. It is the most a donor has ever given in a single cycle.
A huge chunk is thought to have gone into the Senate race between Democrat Jame Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton in his adopted state of Texas.
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Musk relocated his SpaceX and Tesla businesses from California and has sought to shape the state’s political future. Instead, he has wasted a fortune as the voters went blue statewide for the first time in a generation.
Ken Paxton got a lot of Musk’s money, and then lost.
Musk bought up land, bought out residents, and started filling Boca Chica Village in the south of Texas with huge structures in SpaceX’s branded black-and-white. The community, which is near the Mexican border, was renamed Starbase and officially became a city in 2025. It features a road called Memes Street.
The Times estimated that Musk had spent $212 million helping Paxton, who, after 95 percent of the votes had been counted on Wednesday morning, was 12 points behind. Donald Trump won the state by almost 14 points in 2024.
Talarico becomes the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state since 1988.
Musk has helped build a new city in his adopted home of Texas. It went blue in the Senate for the first time in a generation.
As if that wasn’t already enough of a blow for Musk, Democrat Gina Hinojosa also won the gubernatorial race.
As results were coming in, Musk couldn’t hide his frustration.
“Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” he wrote on X, the social platform that he owns.
Texas Senator-elect James Talarico and Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa have turned their state blue.
James Talarico via X/James Talarico via X via REUTERS
“Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” he wrote shortly afterward.
In another possible sign of frustration, and potential slight at Trump, he wrote his trademark “interesting” above a post that read “Exit polls are showing the GOP’s perceived strict immigration enforcement was one of their few winning issues. The Iran war was a massive losing issue.”
A large share of Musk’s spending went to his own Super PAC, America PAC, to which he is thought to have given $216 million. It focuses on voter turnout and dedicated much of its attention this year to the Texas Senate race.
He also gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which supports Republicans running for the Senate.
Musk’s record-breaking wasted investment came despite his assertion last year that “In terms of political spending I’m going to do a lot less in the future.”
He added: “Well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it.”
Musk’s political imperatives struggled to get off the ground.
He also put $30 million into House races, which came to naught after the Democrats eased to a majority.
Forbes currently puts Musk’s net worth at $901.7 billion. That means that his donations still only amount to roughly 0.0526 percent of his total wealth.
Still, it is an expensive defeat.
“You dropped half a f—ing BILLION on this s–t and got dog walked 😭😭😭,” one person responded to Musk’s X posts.
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