Musk Begins Financing GOP for 2026 Elections

Elon Musk has begun "cutting big checks" to fund GOP House and Senate campaigns for the 2026 midterms, signaling that his return to influencing political elections. This comes after Tesla has given him a historic paycheck that could potentially make Musk the world’s first trillionaire. 

Elon Musk at CPAC 2025

What makes Musk’s continued campaign financing even more interesting is that only a few months ago, at the Qatar Economic Forum in May 2025, Musk told interviewers he planned to do "a lot less" political spending in the future. "I think I’ve done enough," he claimed at the time. Yet, the allure of the 2026 midterms seems to have pulled him back. A recent dinner in November with Vice President JD Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles appears to have been the catalyst for his return. 

During the 2024 cycle, Musk poured over a quarter billion dollars into Republican causes, primarily through his own America PAC. This included elections beyond the presidential election such as using $47.3 million for efforts on the Wisconsin Supreme Court elections and special House elections in Florida. He also dipped into state elections, especially in Texas, where he used $2 million to fund the Judicial Fairness PAC, which is a Texas PAC backing GOP judicial candidates.

In addition, his spending wasn't just about party loyalty; it was also a way for Musk to secure a regulatory environment favorable to his tech empire. After Trump’s victory, Musk was appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he attempted to dismantle federal oversight from the inside. During his tenure at DOGE, Musk oversaw efforts to cut around $150 billion in government spending while his companies, SpaceX and Tesla, continued to hold over $20 billion in federal contracts. 

However, Musk has not just been interfering with politics through wealth but also through his rhetoric. He has especially been getting involved in increasingly more far right rhetoric. Earlier this year, Musk backed the far right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in Germany. At an AfD rally, Musk appeared on video and talked about the need for Germany to move beyond the guilt from the Holocaust and war crimes from World War II. He told the crowd that there is “too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that.” This was less than a week after he made Nazi salutes at a Trump rally for the president’s inauguration. 

More recently, Musk attended via video a “unite the kingdom” rally in the UK, where he called for the “dissolution of parliament”. He continued his fear mongering by claiming that “Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die, that’s the truth, I think.”