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Republicans had a night to forget on Tuesday, and so did their biggest donor.
Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk gave more than $445 million to Republican causes this cycle, according to an analysis of federal filings, making him the top donor of the 2026 midterms by a wide margin. Democrats clinched the Senate majority, and the party also won the House.
The race Musk spent most heavily on for a Republican victory—the Texas U.S. Senate clash—favored Democrat James Talarico, who defeated Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton in a state President Donald Trump carried by double digits two years ago. Trump campaigned for Paxton there, and Musk dumped more than $200 million into the contest, the largest single investment of his midterm push. Talarico became the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Texas since 1988.
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Democrats also won the Texas governor's race, with Gina Hinojosa defeating Republican incumbent Greg Abbott. They have also flipped six other Senate seats at the moment, in Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Maine.
Responding to the results, Musk wrote on X on Wednesday: "guess my election-interfering space lasers didn't work this time."
How Much Did Elon Musk Spend on the 2026 Elections?
Musk's giving reached $445.6 million through October 14, the latest date for which contribution data is available. That figure includes money from United States of America Inc., a nonprofit group he controls.
The real total is likely higher, since the figure leaves out tens of millions of dollars given after October 14 or to entities that do not file with the Federal Election Commission. Other tallies put it at $474 million, and no donor has ever spent more in a single cycle.
Musk promised the opposite last year. "In terms of political spending I'm going to do a lot less in the future," he said in May 2025, weeks after a costly loss in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
"Well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it," Musk added.
By October, he had already passed his 2024 political spending.
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Elon Musk's Biggest Political Expenditures
Three groups took most of the money.
America PAC, the super PAC Musk founded, received $216 million. The group focused on Republican voter turnout and built a field campaign in Texas that the party depended on to get its voters out.
The Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans, received $168 million. Federal filings showed $158 million of Musk's money went to the fund, which then gave the same amount to Texas PAC, the largest contributor backing Paxton.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC backing House Republicans, received $30 million in a bid to protect the majority, which Democrats regained on Tuesday.
Musk spent more than $200 million over the last few months to help Paxton. His trust also gave $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, the main outside group supporting Paxton.
Other donations went to political groups active in Kentucky and Alaska. In Kentucky, Musk gave $10 million in January to a super PAC supporting Republican Nate Morris for Senate. Representative Andy Barr ended up as the Republican nominee and won the seat. The Alaska race, between Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola, had not been called at the time of publication.
Musk vs. Talarico: What the CEO Has Said About the New Texas Senator
Musk formally endorsed Paxton in October, then went after Talarico on X as early voting got underway. Talarico hit back on the platform.
In one post, Musk wrote that Talarico wants to open the borders and "legalize everyone to gain a permanent majority to end democracy in America."
Earlier in the race, X users attached Community Notes to America PAC posts about Talarico's border comments after a debate clip was cut off mid-sentence.
Attack ads and mailers from Paxton's allies claimed Talarico wants to ban meat and force gender surgery on minors.
"This Senate seat doesn't belong to Elon Musk," Talarico said on the trail. He posted to X on October 20 that Musk was trying to buy the seat.
During an October 19 interview on MS NOW, he said Musk wanted "his very own personal United States senator," and accused him of trying to buy a state park in South Texas. Talarico offered no evidence of any agreement trading political support for public land, and Abbott said no vote on a sale was imminent.
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What Democrats in Texas Have Said About Musk
When Musk's spending began in September, Democrats said they would try to make him a lightning rod in battleground races.
The Talarico campaign did not set out to run against him. Its ad centered on the risk of Musk buying the state, and many voters still admire him as an entrepreneur.
At a Texas rally in October, with the outside money still growing, Talarico compared his campaign to the biblical David. "We are going up against our own Goliaths," he told supporters.
Talarico held a wide fundraising lead, bringing in $64 million in the third quarter compared with $18 million for Paxton. Ad spending in the race passed $500 million, with outside groups backing Paxton accounting for about $239 million.
Paxton, who kept a low profile late in the race, did not talk about Musk.
In the final days of the race, Talarico told voters that Musk wanted Texas' land, water and tax dollars. "He is trying to buy Texas," he said.
Hinojosa, who defeated Abbott on Tuesday, went after Musk too. "Elon Musk gave Greg Abbott $5 million to try and buy this election," she said in an October 27 statement. Her campaign said the donation made Musk the governor's largest donor this cycle, with $5.5 million in total.
She also went to court for more than 1,000 pages of unredacted communications between Abbott's office and Musk. A Travis County judge ruled in her favor in October, but the 15th Court of Appeals issued a stay. Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary, called the case a "sham lawsuit."
The Biggest Donors in the Race
The 20 largest donors put roughly $2 billion into federal races this cycle. Musk gave nearly three times as much as the next closest donor.
Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, the Midwestern industrialists, ranked second at $150 million. They were followed by One Nation, the nonprofit arm of the Senate Leadership Fund, at $137.9 million, and Andreessen Horowitz founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz at $116.4 million. Hedge fund investor Jeff Yass came next at $110.4 million.
The top Democratic-aligned donors were Majority Forward, the nonprofit arm of Senate Majority PAC, at $104 million, and George and Alexander Soros at $103.4 million. House Majority Forward followed at $97.2 million, and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg gave $84.8 million, most of it in the last two months of the campaign.
The Texas race also pitted two tech billionaires against each other. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who gave $41.8 million this cycle, directed $16.5 million to backing Talarico. The New York Times described that as a sign of a simmering feud between Hoffman and Musk in Silicon Valley.
Hoffman gave less than a tenth of what Musk did this cycle. His donations backing Talarico made up about 40 percent of that total.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Alfred Joyner and Edward T. Cummins
Update 11/4/26 1.30 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a statement from Elon Musk.
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