Musk adds $158 million to Senate Leadership Fund, $10 million more to Paxton PAC

Talarico raised $64 million in third quarter, a Senate record

Tens of millions of dollars are pouring into the Texas Senate contest between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico ahead of November’s midterms, with Elon Musk emerging as the single largest outside donor on the Republican side, according to The Guardian.

The race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico is one of the most competitive in the country and was expected to cost millions because Texas is an expensive state in which to campaign.

Musk gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund in September alone — the primary super political action committee backing Republican Senate candidates — accounting for more than half of the committee’s third-quarter fundraising, Axios first reported. A source familiar with the matter confirmed the reporting to The Guardian.

Separately, Musk donated $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, the committee dedicated to supporting Paxton. Senate Leadership Fund president Alex Latcham requested that funding, according to The Guardian. The Guardian has asked representatives for America PAC, the political operation founded by Musk, for comment.

The donations came as Republicans were struggling to keep up with spending by Talarico. Over the summer, Talarico released an ad painting Paxton negatively as a politician with a history of corruption.

Talarico, a young, progressive candidate known for his faith-based messaging, made strides with liberal voters in Texas when he defeated an established Democrat for the Senate nomination earlier this year. He raised $64 million in the third quarter — the largest third-quarter fundraising total by a Senate candidate in U.S. history, Politico reported.

“He’s fighting this battle basically alone while Elon Musk and the full weight of the GOP fundraising apparatus outspends him 2:1. This is still an uphill battle,” an unnamed Democratic strategist working in Texas told Politico.

Public polling has the two candidates essentially tied, though some surveys have shown Talarico polling narrowly ahead of Paxton.

The Senate Leadership Fund warned months earlier that supporting Paxton would cost between $150 million and $200 million, but Donald Trump chose Paxton himself to run against Talarico in the general election. When Musk’s team and the Senate Leadership Fund later analyzed polling showing Paxton’s chances of winning dwindling, Musk stepped in, Axios reported.

Musk’s September spending fits a broader pattern of escalating donations in the 2025-2026 election cycle. He has donated approximately $366 million to federal committees in the current cycle, the New York Times reported — significantly more than the roughly $290 million he donated during the 2024 cycle to help Trump.

The increase contradicts a statement Musk made in May 2025, when he said: “I think, in terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future.”

Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for America PAC, told the New York Times: “These robust investments have allowed the GOP apparatus to get its message out so Republicans can have a fighting chance to defy history.”

“If Democrats take control of Washington and win key gubernatorial and attorney general races this November, then America risks becoming a socialist, woke and borderless country,” Romeo added.