Musk Pours $158 Million Into Texas Senate Race to Back Paxton

Elon Musk gave $158 million in September to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC backing Republican Senate candidates, according to third quarter filings with the Federal Election Commission that became public on Thursday. Almost all of the money flowed straight to Texas, where Republican Ken Paxton is locked in a close Senate race with Democrat James Talarico.

The money trail

The fund's report shows two donations from Musk: $75 million on September 9 and $83 million on September 23. One day after each donation, the fund sent the same amount to Texas PAC, a group set up for the Texas race that backs Paxton and attacks Talarico. The two gifts made up more than half of everything the Senate Leadership Fund took in from donors during the quarter, and they rank among the largest single political donations ever reported in the United States.

Musk's giving did not stop there. The Associated Press reported that he also gave $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, another group supporting Paxton, and more than $80 million in the quarter to America PAC, the political group he founded and used as his main vehicle in 2024.

A record quarter for Senate Republicans

The Senate Leadership Fund raised $272.9 million from July through September, the biggest quarter in its history, and went into the final weeks before the November 3 midterm elections with more than $155 million in cash. Republicans hold a 53 seat majority in the Senate and are defending it across a hard map. The Democratic counterpart, Senate Majority PAC, said it raised a record $151 million in the same quarter and ended September with $111.8 million in cash, though its own filing was not yet public.

Ad buyers felt the Musk money fast. Texas PAC spent more than $77 million on advertising in September alone, according to AdImpact data cited by CNN, and its spending and bookings backing Paxton run to nearly $160 million through Election Day. Total ad spending in the Texas race has passed half a billion dollars.

The other side of the ledger

Talarico is not short of money himself. His campaign said he raised $64 million in the third quarter, the largest quarterly haul ever reported by a Senate candidate. The old mark was $57.9 million, set by Jaime Harrison of South Carolina in 2020. Talarico's campaign said he has raised more than $134.3 million since launching in September 2025, most of it from small donations. Paxton's campaign and affiliated committees raised $18 million in the quarter. At a rally in San Marcos on Thursday, Talarico cast his campaign as David facing a far richer opponent.

The seat is held by Republican Senator John Cornyn. A Marist poll released this week put Talarico at 47 percent and Paxton at 45 percent, inside the margin of error. President Donald Trump has campaigned in Texas for Paxton, including an October 7 rally in San Antonio.

Musk lives in Texas. SpaceX, Tesla and X all run large operations in the state, and he moved the headquarters of X and SpaceX there from California in 2024. He spent more than $250 million supporting Trump's return to the White House that year. The filings show he is now the Republican Party's biggest donor in the fight for the Senate as well, and Texas is where most of that money is going.