Musk Gave More Than $276 Million to Republican Groups Since July, Making Him the Biggest Known Midterm Donor

Since July, Elon Musk has poured more than $276 million into Republican midterm efforts, and the money is now public. That makes the world's richest person the biggest known donor of the 2026 cycle by a wide margin.

Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Musk's super PAC, confirmed the total. The figures were first reported by The New York Times, which said Musk's representatives supplied the previously unreported numbers ahead of a federal filing deadline on Thursday.

Where the money went

The largest piece is $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC backing Republican Senate candidates. It is one of the largest known political donations in American history. The Times reported it exceeds what the group's Democratic counterpart raised from all of its donors in the same quarter.

Another $76 million went to America PAC, the super PAC Musk founded in 2024. The Times reported the group spent that much on a canvassing program aimed at hard-to-reach Republican voters. America PAC is active in seven Senate battlegrounds and nearly three dozen House races.

Musk also gave $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, which backs Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate nominee in Texas.

Those three items add up to $244 million. Musk's team has not itemized the remaining roughly $32 million of the $276 million total.

A reversal of last year's pledge

In May 2025, Musk said he planned to cut back. "I think I've done enough," he said at the time. The Times quoted him that month as saying, "In terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future."

The numbers say otherwise. The Times reported that Musk has given about $366 million to federal committees during the 2025-26 cycle. That is more than the roughly $290 million he spent in the 2024 election, when he helped return President Trump and Republicans to power.

The Times also reported, citing people briefed on his giving, that Musk gave additional undisclosed donations in both cycles. The amounts have not been made public.

Quiet money, repaired relationship

The spending has come with a lower public profile. In 2024, Musk appeared on stage beside Trump at rallies. After that he ran the Department of Government Efficiency in the early days of the president's second term.

He left that post amid a falling out with Trump. According to the Times, Musk raged against the president's major domestic policy bill and floated starting a third party.

That is over. Trump presented Musk with the National Medal of Science last week. The Times reported the two men have appeared together at three events in the past two weeks and praised each other. Forbes reported last week that Musk's net worth again topped $1 trillion. It has moved around that line all year with stock prices.

The political backdrop

The money arrives as Republicans face a difficult environment. The Associated Press described a party bracing for major potential losses amid voter frustration over the president's performance, stubbornly high prices and the unpopular war with Iran.

Republicans hold what the AP called a gaping financial advantage over Democrats. The Times reported that no Democratic billionaire is spending anywhere near Musk's level. It said money remains a central worry for Democrats in an otherwise favorable political climate. It also noted that well-funded outside groups, including Trump's own super PAC, are flooding the airwaves with ads in the final weeks.

Musk's business empire has also benefited from enormous federal contracts, the Times reported. Neither Musk nor his representatives have said that his political giving is tied to any government business, and no source in the reporting makes that claim.

Big-dollar political spending by an individual is legal and, for this cycle, now disclosed. The open questions are narrower: how much of Musk's giving remains undisclosed, and whether the turnout operation at America PAC can offset the national mood in the districts and states it is targeting.

Thursday's filings should provide the first official accounting. Whether they fill in the undisclosed amounts is not yet known.