Billionaire Elon Musk gave $158 million last month to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC backing Senate Republicans, which quickly moved the money to a group supporting Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Republicans are working to keep the Texas seat as polls show a close contest between Paxton and Democrat James Talarico.
The group reported Thursday that Musk contributed $75 million on Sept. 9 and $83 million two weeks later. Together those contributions accounted for more than half of its receipts in the third quarter this year. A day after each contribution, the Senate Leadership Fund sent the same sum to Texas PAC, which reported over $100 million in spending favoring Paxton and opposing Talarico.
Talarico is seeking to become the first Democrat to win statewide in Texas in more than three decades. He has highlighted Paxton’s history of scandal and divisions left after Paxton beat incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in a bitter primary earlier this year. Most recent polls show Talarico ahead within the margin of error, a result that could hurt Republican efforts to retain the Senate.
Musk also gave more than $80 million from July to September to his own America PAC, which reported spending on the Texas Senate race and other competitive congressional contests. Musk, a Texas resident whose large companies SpaceX and Tesla have extensive operations in the state, has strongly criticized Talarico in recent weeks. America PAC spokesperson Andrew Romeo said the investments let Republicans communicate their message ahead of November, warning in a statement that America risked becoming a “socialist, woke and borderless country” under Democrats.