Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is pumping millions of dollars into the Ohio Senate race in support of Republican incumbent Jon Husted, part of the near-trillionaire’s costly campaign to shore up the GOP’s chances in a critical midterm contest.
According to a Guardrails action analysis of 2026 election cycle spending, Musk has spent $7.9 million supporting Husted’s reelection bid through his super PAC. This money has flowed to outside groups rather than directly to Husted’s campaign—which reported raising $19.2 million of its own funds from the beginning of last year through June 30.
The Ohio contest is a crucial one in determining which party will control the chamber after the midterms. Democrats must defend all of their seats and flip four GOP-held seats to take the majority. Husted is squaring off against Democrat and former Senator Sherrod Brown. The seat is one of seven rated a “toss-up” by the Cook Political Report.
The extra support from Musk comes as Ohio Republicans are concerned about the possibility of low voter turnout hurting the GOP, according to a New York Times report.
Newsweek has contacted both campaigns for comment.
Musk Emerges As Major Midterm Donor
Guardrails Action calls itself “a nonpartisan advocacy organization fighting for common-sense AI accountability.”
The group estimates that—along with the Ohio race—Musk had spent over $55 million as of October 16, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. That includes more than $24 million spent to support Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton against Democratic state Representative James Talarico in the Texas Senate race.
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FEC filings show that Musk continues to pour significant sums into the Republican Party’s wider campaigning apparatus. A report from the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF)—the GOP Senate leadership’s primary super PAC—revealed that Musk gave $158 million to the group in September alone.
Musk’s contribution—made up of donations of $75 million and $83 million—exceeds the total raised by the SLF’s Democratic counterpart, the Senate Majority PAC (SMP), during the entire quarter. SMP spokesperson Lauren French described this as “the strongest third quarter SMP has ever had.”
All told, the New York Times last week estimated Musk's total contributions at $276 million since the beginning of July. This spending has helped Republicans carry a significant advantage when it comes to ad spending in key Senate races, according to figures shared with Newsweek last week.
Latest developments in the Ohio Senate Race Between Husted and Brown
Husted has served as one of Ohio’s two senators since early 2025, when he was appointed to take the seat left vacant by Vice President JD Vance. Brown represented Ohio in the Senate from 2007 to 2025, prior to which he served in the House of Representatives and in the Ohio House of Representatives.
Beyond outside support, FEC filings show that Brown is significantly outraising Husted—his campaign reporting $23.1 million in direct contributions in July, August and September compared to $4.8 million for his rival.
While not on the same level as what Husted has received, Brown has also benefited from outside group spending, with the Democratic PAC Defend the Vote spending $7 million on an ad campaign attacking his opponent’s record on data centers.
Jon Husted vs. Sherrod Brown: What Latest Polls Say
Democrats are hoping to ride low approval ratings for President Donald Trump back to a Senate seat in Ohio. Trump won the state in all three of his presidential races, including by 11 points in 2024. It is one of several states—including Alaska, Iowa and Texas—that Trump won by double digits that are Democrats are aggressively targeting.
Polls continue to show a tight contest between Husted and Brown, with a September 26 to October 18 survey of 400 likely voters from ActiVote resulting in an even split. Brown has retained an edge in most polls since July, however, with the aggregators 270toWin and DecisionDeskHQ currently favoring the Democrat.
However, the Republican coalition includes higher-turnout groups like older voters, and the GOP hopes this improves its Election Day chances relative to current polling odds. As in 2016 and 2024, underrepresentation of Republican voters in polling has been viewed as a potential saving grace, especially with several races still in toss-up territory.
“While the political environment looks very negative for President Trump and Republicans right now, these are preelection polls and not votes,” Matt A. Barreto, faculty director at the UCLA Voting Rights Project, told Newsweek last week. “We don't yet know what voter turnout will be and Republicans do hold an advantage on fundraising and advertising spending.”
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Geoffrey Rowland.