Musk's Nearly $500 Million Midterm Push Ends in Republican Defeats

Elon Musk put nearly half a billion dollars behind Republicans in the 2026 midterms. Much of that money went toward helping Ken Paxton defeat Democrat James Talarico in the Texas Senate race, according to CNN.

The exact spending total varies across the coverage. Fast Company cited a tally of about $474 million through October 14, when the available federal filings stopped. PBS put the figure at $445 million. The figures establish the scale of his spending, but do not provide one agreed final total.

By November 4, the scale of the Republican defeat was clear. Democrats had won both chambers of Congress despite Musk's spending, Forbes reported.

Texas delivered a particularly direct setback. Talarico won the Senate contest Musk had heavily financed on Paxton's behalf, according to CNN. The state also elected a Democratic governor, The Next Web reported on November 5.

Musk initially responded with jokes. Inc.com reported on November 4 that he joked about space lasers and posted a shrug emoji. His public appeals for Republican votes also began disappearing: Business Insider reported that his election-day appeal to vote red had vanished.

The financial fallout grew over the following day. On November 5, CNBC reported that Tesla and SpaceX had lost more than $420 billion in combined market value after the midterms. MarketWatch put their two-day loss at $450 billion.

By November 6, the losses extended beyond Musk's companies. Business Insider reported that nine technology billionaires lost $150 billion during Thursday's AI stock plunge, including an $80 billion decline in Musk's wealth. That broader selloff complicates any attempt to attribute every dollar lost to the election.

Musk's spending failed to preserve Republican control of Congress or deliver the Texas Senate result he sought. The New York Times described his nearly $500 million effort over two years as a record political spending campaign that did not achieve its aims.

The reported corporate losses differ in scale and measurement period. EL PAIS reported $111 billion erased from Tesla and SpaceX on Wednesday, while the later CNBC and MarketWatch reports gave totals above $420 billion. Those figures should not be treated as interchangeable snapshots.

The political consequences are still developing. Democrats in Congress and Texas were already promising probes of Musk, according to Forbes. NPR identified his leadership of DOGE and government contracts as likely subjects of scrutiny.

The next concrete test is whether Democrats turn those promises into investigations, and which contracts or decisions they examine. NPR reported that scrutiny was likely, not that those investigations had already begun.

Business plans are another unresolved issue. CNA reported that the election results clouded the outlook for data centers and a merger. The coverage does not establish which plans will change or whether any will be blocked.