Luckey fundraisers list Thune, Rogers, Sullivan among guests
Recent campaign records show Musk remains a major force in the coming midterms, The Guardian reported. His America Pac spent $3.4 million attacking the Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate race. In the hotly contested Texas Senate race, America Pac spent $6.4 million to oppose Democrat James Talarico and $1 million to support the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton.
The figures accompany the broader Project Meridian announcement, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth installed Musk and Palmer Luckey in advisory roles on a Pentagon project about the future of warfare. The Guardian reported that the move bestowed extraordinary influence on two major Republican campaign donors, raising conflict-of-interest concerns because both men own companies that benefit from federal defense contracting.
Hegseth dubbed the project “Project Meridian” at an event in Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday. It will be led by Pentagon official Emil Michael, a former Uber executive. As the Guardian has previously reported, Michael made millions in profits off non-public Musk company AI stock while in federal office and while guiding the Department of Defense’s artificial intelligence efforts. Project Meridian will also include Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, whom the Guardian described as a Trump loyalist.
Musk was one of the chief financiers of Trump’s 2024 victory, spending over a quarter of a billion dollars in the run-up to the election, according to the Guardian. Musk’s SpaceX has been a crucial contractor for US space programs since 2018. In the second Trump administration, the company has emerged as a key player in the Golden Dome ballistic missile defense project, an effort the Guardian described as phenomenally expensive and reported could cost as much as $1.2 trillion.
Musk dwarfs Luckey in resources and fame, but Luckey has achieved prominence in the defense contracting world, the Guardian reported. Initially a young celebrity in the tech world for inventing a virtual reality headset, Luckey later founded Anduril, a defense contracting company that has already won significant federal contracts.
Luckey has also become one of the most important “bundlers” for Republican candidates on the west coast, as the Guardian reported in August. One of the sources called him the “godfather of Republican fundraising on the west coast.” Invitations to political fundraisers obtained by the Guardian show Luckey hosted and co-hosted events for candidates from Trump himself to Ken Calvert, Rick Scott, Mehmet Oz and Ted Cruz, among others. At his most recent event, on August 22, he and his wife co-hosted a $50,000-a-head effort to “Keep the Senate,” listing guests John Thune of South Dakota, Mike Rogers of Michigan, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Jon Husted of Ohio.
Luckey, 34, whose company is backed by Joshua Kushner’s equity fund, has acquired manufacturers of underwater drones, unmanned aerial vehicles and space technology. Earlier this year, he said he thought warfare in the second half of this century would involve “subterranean” conflict, with vehicles that could move through the crust of the earth the same way that submarines move through the water. He has claimed that his company has “working prototypes of subterranean systems.”
“Bringing major industry players into these types of positions at the Pentagon is not something new, but what feels different now is the substantial financial support these two have, and continue to, deliver for the Republican party,” said Brendan Glavin of Open Secrets, a non-partisan group that tracks campaign spending.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.