Elon Musk has invested nearly 500 million dollars in the United States midterm elections, but the results at the polls have not matched much of the Republican candidates that received his backing. The technology entrepreneur allocated around 474 million dollars to boost conservative candidacies in the elections of last November 3, according to the vote counts published by U.S. media outlets.
The figure, reported by The New York Times and published by El País, corresponds to contributions identified up to mid-October, so it does not necessarily include all the money that may have been channeled through other organizations or channels of political financing.
The electoral outcome has been a setback for several of the founder of Tesla and SpaceX’s main bets. Among them, Texas stands out, where Musk concentrated a significant portion of his resources to support the Republican Ken Paxton in his race for the Senate. The candidate lost to the Democrat James Talarico.
Texas, the main stage of Musk’s bet
The Senate contest in Texas was one of the races in which Musk put the most resources. The businessman backed Paxton through political organizations and Republican support groups, in an attempt to stop Talarico’s candidacy.
According to the data published by El País, Musk directed more than 225 million dollars to promote Republican candidacies in Texas. Most of that investment was linked to the Senate race, in which the Democrat James Talarico ended up defeating Paxton.
The businessman also backed Republican governor Greg Abbott, who was seeking to continue in office and was defeated by the Democrat Gina Hinojosa. The defeats in these two races represent a blow to Musk’s political strategy in a state where he has significant business interests.
Texas is home to the headquarters of Tesla and SpaceX, two of the entrepreneur’s main companies. His bet on maintaining Republican control of the state and the Senate did not produce the expected result.
Most of his candidates failed to prevail
The election results also reflect difficulties for the Republican candidates backed by Musk in other parts of the country.
According to Reuters’ count published on November 5, only three of the 43 Republican candidates for the House of Representatives that it supported had achieved victory, while 33 had lost and another seven races were still pending resolution at that time.
In the Senate, six of the seven Republican candidates backed by the businessman had lost, while the final contest still did not have a definitive outcome.
The money was funneled through different political organizations, including America PAC, the political action committee created by Musk, and other groups aligned with the Republicans. These structures can finance advertising and other electoral activities in support of candidates, although their contributions do not necessarily amount to direct donations to the campaigns.
Musk jokes about the outcome on his X account
After the results became known, Musk posted a message on his own social network, X, in which he joked about the outcome of his electoral intervention. «It seems that my space lasers for interfering in elections haven’t worked this time,» he wrote, accompanied by an emoji. The comment came after a campaign in which the businessman used his platform to back Republican candidates and criticize their Democratic rivals.
The results have reopened the debate about the scope of large financial contributions in U.S. election campaigns. Musk’s investment highlights the ability of major donors to fund advertising and mobilize resources, but it also shows that spending alone does not guarantee victory at the ballot box.
In this case, several of the candidacies on which the businessman concentrated his efforts ended up losing, including the Texas race, one of his most important political bets.