Musk Spent $474 Million on Midterms; Democrats Won

Elon Musk spent at least $474 million to elect Republican candidates in the midterms, setting a record for individual contributions in a U.S. election cycle.

The funding focused heavily on Texas, where Musk has been based since 2020 and moved the headquarters for Tesla, SpaceX, and X. Despite this financial support, Democrats took control of both the House and the Senate on Tuesday. In Texas, James Talarico defeated Ken Paxton to become the state's first new senator in 36 years, and Gina Hinojosa won the governor's race against Greg Abbott.

Shares of SpaceX and Tesla dropped approximately 6 percent during Wednesday's premarket trading. Musk responded on X with a joke about his election-interfering space lasers not working this time and added a shrug emoji. He also noted that data centers in space looked appealing right now. Gizmodo reported that he deleted a post urging followers to vote red.

Not all Musk-backed candidates lost. Forbes found that 18 candidates he supported in lower races won their seats. The space laser comment referenced a debunked theory from the 2024 election claiming Starlink manipulated vote totals. The data center remark alluded to SpaceX's plan to put AI centers in orbit, potentially avoiding regulatory hurdles in states like Texas, where Hinojosa supports an AI data center moratorium.

Musk remains wealthy despite the political setback. The New York Times reports his net worth stands at approximately $898 billion.