Musk channels more than $150 million to Paxton’s Texas Senate bid
James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate in Texas, released a video Tuesday in which he accused Elon Musk of trying to buy the state’s Senate seat. The video came as The Wall Street Journal’s Politics newsletter reported that Musk is using more than $150 million to help Republican candidate Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race.
“Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat in Texas,” Talarico said in the video. He added: “In all likelihood, if you’ve seen an attack ad on your TV, that was Elon.”
During the 2024 presidential race, the newsletter said Musk camped out in Pennsylvania, gave away $1 million a day to registered voters and helped Trump return to the White House. After the 2024 win, Trump appointed Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as co-leads of the Department of Government Efficiency, which was supposed to slash government spending. Ramaswamy’s tenure did not last long, and Musk was pushed out of the White House in May amid name-calling and finger-pointing. Two months later, Musk said he was launching his own political party, the America Party. One month later, he abandoned it, soon reunited with the GOP and eventually made up with Trump, the newsletter said.
The newsletter said Musk was able in 2024 to help Republicans build a coalition of voters, but Democrats are now using Musk to build their own coalition.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Musk ordered a slowdown of Starlink service used in Ukraine last week and later discussed the matter with Trump. The newsletter said the move “set off an international crisis” as it made it much harder for Ukraine to defend itself. Before the Journal’s article, the White House said it did not know how the slowdown had happened, and Trump said he would like to know who was behind the decision.
Trump has promised $5,000 for every American adult, $8 billion for farmers and extra $90 payments for seniors, the newsletter said. Cash handouts have become central to Trump’s strategy to curb Republican losses in the midterm elections, with wealthy donors helping fuel the president’s 11th-hour push to hold Congress.
The newsletter said Trump is scheduled on Wednesday to hold policy meetings at 11 a.m. ET and 12:30 p.m., participate in a roundtable at 2:30 p.m. and then travel to South Carolina for a 7 p.m. midterm rally at Clemson University’s T. Ed Garrison Arena.
A Michigan Senate debate is scheduled between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit, the newsletter said.
Persian Gulf oil exports have surpassed prewar levels, the newsletter said. An improvised shipping system under U.S. protection is helping tankers move oil through the Strait of Hormuz during what the newsletter described as one of Iran’s fiercest waves of attacks. Tehran can still make the route dangerous and expensive, but its ability to deter transits has faded, weakening its leverage with the United States, the newsletter said.
The newsletter said Trump is offering up to $30,000 for tips that expose government fraud. The $25 million initiative will be administered by the Justice Department and is part of Vice President JD Vance’s antifraud task force, which he launched this year to investigate the misuse of government funds. Tips can be submitted through a government website.