First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
Elon Musk has made two enormous donations totaling a historic $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, in support of the Republican campaign — one of the largest political gifts in US history: $75 million on September 9 and $83 million on September 23.
Two checks. One donor. And a total that rewrote the scale of money in the fight for the Senate.
When the Senate Leadership Fund's third-quarter numbers landed, they showed $273 million raised — and one man was responsible for most of it. Musk's $158 million to the Republican Senate super PAC stands among the largest known political donations in US history.
To grasp the scale: Musk's gift to that one fund, by itself, exceeded everything the Democrats' Senate Majority PAC raised from every one of its donors combined in the same quarter.
For weeks, a question moved through Washington: who was behind the money bomb that suddenly exploded over Texas? The filings have now answered it — the name behind the money is Elon Musk.
But the story does not stop at where the money landed. It is where the money went next that reveals the real target. The Senate Leadership Fund transferred identical amounts onward to Texas PAC, the super PAC backing Ken Paxton — placing Musk squarely behind the Republican money bomb in the Texas Senate race, one of the most watched and expensive fights in the country. And even that was not all: Musk also gave $10 million directly to Lone Star Liberty PAC, another group supporting Paxton.
Then the picture got bigger still. The $158 million is only the largest piece of what Musk has unleashed since July: more than $276 million to Republican groups — over $76 million to his own America PAC, $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, $10 million to the Republican Governors Association, and $2 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association.
His known total for this election cycle now stands at roughly $366 million — already more than the roughly $290 million he spent in the entire 2024 election that returned President Trump to the White House.
Which makes what Musk said not long ago all the more striking. Last year, stepping back from politics, he said he had done enough and planned to spend a lot less. Instead, he has quietly become the biggest known donor of the 2026 midterms — and he did it while returning to Trump's side. After a public falling-out when he left the Department of Government Efficiency, the two men reconciled, and on October 8, President Trump presented Musk with the National Medal of Science at the White House, calling him an industrial titan and one of the greatest technology founders to ever live.
The stakes explain the size of the checks. History says the president's party loses ground in the midterms, and Republicans are fighting to hold both chambers so Trump's agenda keeps moving. America PAC spokesman Andrew Romeo said the investments give the party a fighting chance to defy that history. Democrats see it differently — a Senate Majority PAC spokeswoman accused Republicans of hoping to buy the elections to outrun their own candidates.
Supporters see a man defending Republican leadership with everything he has. Critics see billionaire influence. Both sides agree on the essential fact: Musk is putting serious money behind the GOP this cycle.
First posted on Instagram
And the checks kept coming. In the first two weeks of October, Musk poured another $76 million into America PAC, his own super PAC — a separate infusion from the $76 million he had already given it in the third quarter — lifting his known political spending this election cycle past $442 million, according to POLITICO's review of Federal Election Commission records, published Thursday.
That new total already exceeds the roughly $290 million Musk spent across the entire 2024 election cycle — and POLITICO reported that no other donor in modern American politics has come close to matching this cycle's sum.
The fresh money makes America PAC one of the biggest super PACs of the midterms. It has already spent tens of millions of dollars on digital advertising, mailers and text messages as it targets competitive House and Senate races across the country. Musk's reach goes well beyond Texas: he has also funded the super PAC supporting House Republicans, President Donald Trump's MAGA Inc., an effort to overturn Alaska's ranked-choice voting system and several individual GOP candidates. Unlike earlier campaigns, he has not been appearing alongside Republican candidates this fall.
The new filings also show how much of this cycle's Republican money comes from a handful of fortunes. Midwestern shipping magnate Richard Uihlein put $66 million more into a super PAC active in federal and state races, bringing his cycle total past $130 million, while Pennsylvania businessman Jeff Yass added $10 million to a super PAC backing Vivek Ramaswamy's Ohio gubernatorial bid, lifting his total past $105 million. Together, the three billionaires account for more than $600 million in federal donations to Republicans this cycle — super PAC spending that has already set records this fall, with Republicans hoping a massive financial advantage can help them overcome a brutal national political environment.
The only question left is the one November 3 will answer — whether donations on a scale rarely seen in American political history are enough to keep the Senate, and President Trump's governing majority, intact.