Elon Musk is almost single-handedly funding the Republican midterms
Elon Musk has racked up presidential-level field operations this midterm, to the extent that he's taken over the GOP's get-out-the-vote efforts.
Elon Musk has racked up presidential-level field operations this midterm, to the extent that he's taken over the GOP's get-out-the-vote efforts.
Elon Musk has been quietly funding a massive search operation to help Republican midterm candidates competing with his 2024 presidential bid, according to federal filings released Thursday night. To monitor the trillionaire's overall influence on the November election, WIRED created a new update tracker that collects federal filings every day.
The Musk-aligned America PAC spent $76.7 million in the third quarter of 2026, $35.8 million of which was spent on field operations to attract participation among President Donald Trump's core base in all seven Senate battleground states and a number of House races, documents show.
That compares to about $45 million spent by America's PAC on field operations at the same point in the 2024 cycle, when the super PAC effectively did the vast majority of Trump's presidential campaign.
In short, Musk has orchestrated a presidential-level field operation this midterm, showing the extent to which he has taken over the party's get-out-the-vote efforts and created something of a shadow Republican National Committee. With three weeks to go until Election Day, the total contributions will only increase even higher
Canvassing has been America's PAC's biggest spender, more than $23.7 million spent on a mix of digital ads mostly attacking Democrats, campaign literature and phone bank efforts.
But in an effort to preserve the Republican majority in the Senate, Musk also contributed $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC supporting GOP candidates in that chamber. The same amount appears to have gone into Texas PAC, which was registered with the FEC in August 2026 and supports Republican candidate and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
During the midterms, Musk has been particularly focused on the Senate race in Texas, where he has extensive personal and business interests. Musk lives near Austin, and SpaceX and Tesla are based in the state. Musk contributed nearly 60 percent of the $273 million the Senate Leadership Fund raised for the Texas PAC.
Musk's impressive war chest in all seven Senate races, and to some extent in the House race, makes him the biggest known midterm donor among Republicans and Democrats alike.
Since its inception, America PAC has relied primarily on outside companies to conduct paid surveys, in which people are hired to knock on the doors of potential Trump or Republican voters to remind them to register to vote and vote early.
The super PAC has largely used the same contractors as in the 2024 cycle. The largest canvassing contract was awarded to Blitz Canvassing, a subsidiary of political affairs firm GP3 Partners, which helped America PAC stand up.
Other vendors listed in the America PAC filings were Patriot Grassroots LLC, The Synapse Group, In Field Strategies, Echo Canyon Group, Threshold Strategies and GEG Strategies LLC. All but the last two worked for America PAC in 2024.
Entering the final stretch of the campaign, America PAC has more than $12 million left, although Musk, the world's richest man, may contribute more to his PAC if needed.
America PAC has participated in 40 races in 17 states since July. The Texas Senate race accounted for the largest share, with Musk's team spending $15.3 million attacking Democrat James Talarico and $3.5 million supporting Paxton.
The super PAC also spent about $5.3 million to attack Democrat Sherrod Brown in Ohio's Senate race against Republican John Husted and $3.5 million to attack Democrat Abd al-Said in his race against Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan, according to WIRED's tracker.