Musk donates over $150 million to Senate GOP group, assisting Paxton

Key points

• Elon Musk donated $158 million last month to the main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans.
• The Senate Leadership Fund PAC sent the same amount to a Texas PAC one day after each Musk donation.
• The Texas PAC reported over $100 million in pro-Paxton and anti-Talarico spending.

Billionaire Elon Musk donated $158 million last month to the main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The super PAC almost immediately sent the money to a group supporting GOP Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton.

Musk gave $75 million to the Senate Leadership Fund PAC on Sept. 9 and $83 million two weeks later, the group reported Thursday. Together the donations accounted for more than half of the super PAC's total receipts in the third quarter of this year.

Funds directed to Texas race

One day after each donation, the Senate Leadership Fund PAC disbursed the same amount to Texas PAC. That group reported over $100 million in pro-Paxton and anti-Talarico spending.

Musk also donated more than $80 million from July to September to his own group, America PAC, which was his primary political vehicle in 2024. The group reported spending on the Texas Senate contest and several other competitive congressional races.

If Democrats take control of Washington and win key gubernatorial and attorney general races this November, then America risks becoming a socialist, woke and borderless country.

— Andrew Romeo

Context of the contest

Republicans are fighting to hold the Texas Senate seat, with polls indicating a tight race between Paxton and Democratic opponent James Talarico. Most recent polls show Talarico with a within-the-margin-of-error lead.

Talarico is trying to become the first Democrat to win a statewide race in Texas in more than three decades. He has focused on Paxton's history of scandal and on divisions among Texas Republicans after Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a bitter primary earlier this year.

What Musk and allies said

Musk, a Texas resident whose companies SpaceX and Tesla base many operations in the state, has strongly criticized Talarico in recent weeks. After serving as the country's top political donor in 2024, he had suggested he planned to scale back his political spending, joking in one interview, "I think I've done enough."

America PAC spokesperson Andrew Romeo told CBS News that if Democrats win key races this November, the country risks becoming "a socialist, woke and borderless country." He said the investments give Republicans a fighting chance to defy history.