Elon Musk's millions fail to deliver Texas for the Republicans in fierce midterms

Published4 November 2026, 13:43 GMT

Democrat James Talarico's resounding victory in the Texas Senate race caused a major upset in the midterms for Republicans - and for Elon Musk.

According to the Financial Times, external, the billionaire's political action committee (Pac) contributed $47m (£35m) to Republican candidate Ken Paxton's campaign, on top of the $158m he gave the Senate Leadership Fund in September.

The money was not enough to stop the seat from turning Democrat for the first time since 1988. In his acceptance speech, Talarico said: "We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas."

"Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn't work this time," Musk jokingly wrote on X, external.

While stocks were broadly up on Wednesday morning following the election outcome, Musk's Tesla and SpaceX were down by 4.9% and 3.4% respectively. Many Democrats had been vocally outspoken against the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) data centres on the campaign trail.

Democrats take control of US Congress as voters resoundingly reject Trump's Republicans

Democrats take control of US Congress as voters resoundingly reject Trump's Republicans

Talarico's victory marked a key turning point in the midterms, helping solidify the Democrats' control of the US Congress in a wave of wins across the US.

Musk has increasingly made Texas the hub of his companies, from Tesla's Austin headquarters to SpaceX's Starbase launch site.

As well as backing Paxton through outside groups, the X owner took to his own platform to spread conspiracy theories about the Democrat, posting: "There is something deeply wrong with Talarico" after he briefly disappeared from the campaign trail in October.

"There is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal US Senator," Talarico posted in response.

On top of contributing to one of the most expensive Senate races ever, the SpaceX owner also became the top individual donor in this year's midterms overall, contributing an estimated $446m in backing Republican candidates.

Musk's money went through Super Pacs, groups which can raise unlimited sums but can't give directly to candidates or coordinate with their campaigns.

Individuals, parties and traditional groups face legal limits on direct donations.

Super Pacs get around this by spending independently, such as on ads backing a candidate.

Musk became one of the Republican Party's biggest donors in 2024, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into Donald Trump's winning presidential campaign.

A similarly eye-watering amount was not enough to do the same for Paxton this time around.

Listen to Americast: Democrats make historic shift in US politics

Listen to Americast: Democrats make historic shift in US politics

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Related topics

US midterm elections 2026

United States Senate

US politics

Elon Musk

Texas

US Congress

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