America PAC Spends $76 Million in Two-Week Push to Fund Midterms

Elon Musk transferred more than $76 million to his personal political committee, America PAC, during the first two weeks of October. The figure appears in a pre-election report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday evening. In that same period, the committee spent nearly $43 million and retained almost $47 million in cash.

The Texas Senate race absorbed the majority of the new expenditures. America PAC directed $15.2 million into the contest, double the amount spent there during the entire summer. Of that total, $12.4 million targeted Democratic candidate James Talarico, while $2.8 million promoted Republican Ken Paxton. Daily filings submitted since then indicate another $9.1 million went against Talarico, bringing the committee's total spending against the Democrat this cycle to nearly $28 million.

The committee also shifted its advertising strategy toward digital platforms. It spent $11.4 million on online ads in the two-week window, an amount close to what it spent on mail and texting combined. According to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings, Musk has given more than $445 million to Republican political groups this election cycle. More than $165 million of that total went to America PAC since July. The committee declined to comment.

Musk has also engaged in the race on social media. On Wednesday, he posted on X that "there is something deeply wrong with Talarico," calling the candidate "a creep." He claimed without evidence that Talarico "would vote to take away your kids and transition them." Earlier in the month, Musk shared a false claim that Talarico had been treated at a mental health facility.

Talarico responded the same day, stating, "There is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal US Senator." An Emerson College poll of 1,000 likely Texas voters, conducted from October 17 to 19, placed Talarico at 48 percent and Paxton at 46 percent. The result falls within the poll's 3-point margin of error.

The outcome of the Texas race carries implications beyond the state. If Democrats win the House, committee chairs have signaled plans to investigate Musk's role in the Department of Government Efficiency and federal contracts held by his companies. California Representative Zoe Lofgren described the number of conflicts of interest as "astounding." In a letter to the White House, Representatives Sam Liccardo, Jimmy Panetta, and Ro Khanna noted that the next Congress "will closely scrutinize federal funding awarded to Mr. Musk's businesses."

The next step for the committee is the final stretch of the midterm campaign. The Texas Senate vote is scheduled for November 3.