Musk channels $158 million in September to Senate Republican super PAC

Musk’s quarterly donations to Republican-aligned groups exceed $250 million

The Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate Republicans’ main super PAC, immediately transferred $158 million it received from Elon Musk in September to a group backing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign, according to federal campaign finance filings reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The donations reflect Republican efforts to defend a Senate seat seen as critical to maintaining the party’s 53-47 majority in the chamber, which has two independents who caucus with the Democrats. Democrat James Talarico has held a narrow lead in recent polling, raising Democrats’ hopes of the first Democratic statewide win in Texas since 1994.

The September transfers to the Senate Leadership Fund moved in two waves. On Sept. 9, the first day of the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Musk directed $75 million to the super PAC; the next day, the super PAC moved $75 million into a connected entity called Texas PAC. Roughly two weeks later, Musk gave the super PAC another $83 million, and the day after that, Texas PAC received a matching $83 million transfer. According to AdImpact data cited by the Journal, Texas PAC is the biggest advertiser in the Texas Senate contest.

Musk also gave $10 million in August to Lone Star Liberty PAC, a separate super PAC boosting Paxton.

Across the third quarter, Musk gave more than $250 million to Republican-aligned groups, the filings show. Of that total, $89 million went to his own America PAC, the organization Musk founded to support President Trump’s 2024 election. America PAC has since broadened to back Republicans in competitive races across the country, spending more than $23 million since July to support individual candidates.

“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,” Andrew Romeo, a spokesman for America PAC, said in a statement. He said the Musk donations are designed to give Republicans “a fighting chance to defy history.”

The direct fundraising gap between the two candidates has favored Talarico. He raised $64 million in the third quarter, his campaign said — more than three times the over $18 million Paxton reported in the same period. Talarico, a state lawmaker, has held a narrow polling lead throughout the race. Past Democratic hopes of winning statewide in Texas have fallen short, most notably when former Rep. Beto O’Rourke narrowly lost to Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018.

The Texas Senate matchup is among the most expensive contests of the cycle. Republicans are dramatically outspending Democrats on advertising in the final stretch, even as polls have not shown significant shifts in high-profile contests since the spending accelerated.

Musk is a Texas resident whose companies include Tesla and SpaceX. Going into the fall, Republicans held a broader fundraising edge over Democrats nationally and have been channeling hundreds of millions of dollars into competitive races across the country.