Elon Musk spent at least $474 million on political groups and candidates in the 2026 U.S. congressional elections, but the Republicans he supported lost control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The data was calculated by The New York Times based on Federal Election Commission documents, tax records and state registries.
The amount covers donations made from January 1, 2025, through mid-October 2026. It is likely lower than the actual spending, as it does not include all funds channeled through opaque political structures, nor the final weeks of the campaign.
$216 Million for America PAC
The largest payment was approximately $216 million to America PAC, a super PAC created by Musk. Another $168 million was provided to the Senate Leadership Fund, which supports Republican candidates for the Senate.
About $30 million was directed to the Congressional Leadership Fund, while other Republican groups and candidates received approximately $44 million. State campaigns in Texas, Michigan and Wisconsin attracted around $16 million.
Spending in Texas reached approximately $224 million. According to The New York Times’ calculations, about $212 million of Musk’s funds supported Ken Paxton in the Senate race.
Loss in Texas
Paxton was defeated by Democrat James Talarico, however. Talarico thus became the first Democrat elected as a senator from Texas since 1988. Democrat Gina Hinojosa also won the gubernatorial election in the state.
Musk’s involvement was a central theme in Talarico’s campaign. “Texas is not for sale,” the Democrat said, accusing the billionaire of trying to secure a “personal senator.” After the result was announced, Talarico said: “Tonight, we defeated Goliath.”
Musk began the election cycle intending to limit his political donations. In the spring of 2025, he said: “I think I’ve done enough,” after spending about $290 million in 2024 to support Donald Trump and other Republicans.
Possible Investigations
After the election, congressional Democrats announced that they intended to investigate Musk’s activities, including his work with DOGE, his companies’ contracts with the federal government and possible conflicts of interest.
Requests have already been made in Congress for Musk to testify under oath. They are also related to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, according to which the savings announced by DOGE had been overstated.
The election results mean that Democrats will have control of both chambers of Congress. This gives them the opportunity to launch investigations and subpoena administration and business officials to hearings.
Sources: nytimes.com, apnews.com, axios.com