Elon Musk has spent at least $366 million, or about 500 billion won, on this year's U.S. midterm elections, making the world's richest man the largest disclosed donor of the cycle. Of that total, $276 million, or about 370 billion won, was spent in the three months since July.
Musk's spending was tallied through the end of September, the New York Times reported on the 12th. He has surpassed Marc Andreessen and his business partner Ben Horowitz, previously the biggest spenders of the cycle.
The largest share went to defending the Republican Senate majority. According to Musk's side, he gave $158 million, or about 210 billion won, this summer to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC backing Senate candidates. That ranks among the largest donations in U.S. political history and exceeded what the rival Democratic super PAC raised from all of its donors in the same quarter.
Musk also gave more than $76 million, or about 100 billion won, this summer to America PAC, the super PAC he founded in 2024. The group used the money for a large canvassing operation that targets low-turnout Republican voters. It said about 3,000 paid canvassers were deployed nationwide last week and that they have visited roughly 6.5 million households so far. The organization is active in seven competitive Senate races and more than 30 House districts.
America PAC has concentrated most of its spending on the Texas Senate race. Musk has stepped up his commentary on that contest in recent weeks, frequently attacking Democratic candidate James Talarico on X, formerly Twitter, and spreading a false claim that Talarico had been admitted to a mental health facility. Talarico pushed back in an interview with NBC, saying it was not true and that he had only had the flu.
Elsewhere, Musk gave $20 million, or about 27 billion won, to the Congressional Leadership Fund and $10 million, or about 13 billion won, to Lone Star Liberty PAC, which supports Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton. He also donated $10 million to the Republican Governors Association and $2 million, or about 2.7 billion won, to the Republican Attorneys General Association.
Musk's donations have been linked to how much his businesses earn from the government. Federal contracts held by Musk-owned companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, totaled at least $38 billion as of last year, or about 51 trillion won. Federal election rules generally bar political donations by government contractors, though Musk is said to have worked around those restrictions.
Musk said in May last year that he would spend much less on politics going forward, and he has said little about political activity since clashing with President Donald Trump last year. The two appeared together three times over the past two weeks, praising each other in what looked like a repaired relationship. Still, by the New York Times' count, Musk has posted only seven times on X this year directly mentioning candidates in competitive races.