Musk's $445M Political Spending Backfires as Midterms Approach, Raising Tesla and EV Industry Questions

US Federal Election Commission data revealed this week that Elon Musk has donated at least $445 million into Republican-aligned political action committees and groups since last year. Interestingly, it seems that Musk’s deep influence isn’t enough, and he is worried.

If Democrats win big on Tuesday in midterm elections, Musk insists US democracy will come to an “end.”

“This would result in America becoming a permanent one-party state and the end of democracy in any meaningful sense of the word,” Musk wrote Friday on X. “All that is needed to ensure this doesn’t happen is 51 Republican senators in 2029.”

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has a long track record of engaging in political quid pro quo. His companies receive billions in federal contracts. The once climate-is-all advocate now weighs heavily on the side of oil/fossil fuels. His DOGE actions may have forced labor shortages in regulatory agencies that were scrutinizing his businesses.

But now Musk seems distraught that newfound Democratic Congressional power could make him a target of investigations after the midterms.

And his fears may have merit. Musk’s blatant attempts to influence election results are getting a lot of recent analysis and condemnation.

“I worry about what Musk’s impulsive bullying is doing and has done to others more vulnerable than I am,” former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote earlier this month after Musk exclaimed, “Prison for Reich.” Such extreme comments are part of Musk lifelong pattern, Reich continued, in which “he’s threatened and racially denigrated and pushed around (people) his whole life.”

Reich added that he is worried for that voters whom Musk has been “deluging with TV ads for Republican candidates” as well as for “federal workers who have been hurt by his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Americans who have been harmed by his wanton destruction of public services, and people around the globe who are worse off because of cuts to USAID pushed by Elon’s DOGE.”

Musk’s America PAC has contributed to 43 US House and Senate races, and that influx of cash has funded vast amounts of television commercials, digital ads, text messages, and mailers. It’s almost easy to forget that Musk became a persona non grata with Trump and the Republican Party last year.

America PAC stands for “secure borders, safe cities, free speech, sensible spending, fair justice system, and self-protection,” according to its website.

These objectives might sound fair and reasonable to many voters, yet a majority of America PAC money goes to attack ads. Musk typically cross-posts America PAC’s damaging content to his more than 200 million followers on X, the social media site he owns and whose social commentary he controls.

Ezra Klein, co-author of Abundance, recently interviewed Quinn Slobodian, professor of international history at Boston University. Slobodian interprets Musk’s midterm campaign finance moves as “his flexing of his own power to make or break candidates, as he wishes,” which, in turn, is a way “fine-tune that control over the media and messaging ecosystem and get out ahead of what he worries would be a regulatory wave that would accompany a Democratic majority.”

Why are such media messages — even those that are based on false premises — so compelling during the run-up to the 2026 US midterm elections? Voters frequently base their own political decisions on fake information and images rather than on reality. Social historian Heather Cox Richardson explains that many such techniques draw scenarios of a chaotic society and destroy individuals’ “ability to make sense of the world.” Some media consumers “turn to a strongman who promises to create order.” Others will get so exhausted they simply refuse to fight back. The path of least resistance is succumbing to the manipulation and “giving up control of their government to an authoritarian.”

Musk’s Attack Ads are Having a Reverse Affect

In Texas alone, America PAC has provided more than $33 million toward the Ken Paxton Senate campaign. Additionally, Musk donated $168 million contribution to the Senate Leadership Fund, which routes money back to the Paxton campaign.

“Elon Musk wants our land. He wants our water. He wants our tax dollars,” James Talarico, the Texas Democratic nominee for Senate, said at a recent rally. “He wants his very own personal United States senator.” Talarico’s comments were supported by loud boos from the crowd.

At a rally at the University of Texas, Talarico said Musk was trying to “stop the movement that we are building in our state.” In contrast, he offered that his own campaign is “funded by 1.3 million individuals who have donated their hard-earned money.” Instead of corporate PAC money, Talarico has depended on small-dollar donations.

The day before that, Talarico’s campaign released a digital advertisement accusing Paxton of being a mere pawn to Musk. “Let’s remind Elon: Texas is not for sale.”

Interestingly, Democratic candidates in Texas and elsewhere across the US are holding their own — many electoral races are too close to call, even with Musk’s influence and campaign finance imbalances helping out Republicans.