Elon Musk’s X account went unusually dark Tuesday evening as US election results rolled in, each new count deepening a reckoning for the world’s richest man, who poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican campaigns this year.
Shortly after 1 am, Musk posted twice: “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” he wrote first. About a minute later, he added, “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time” with a shrug emoji.
By Wednesday morning, candidates backed by Musk’s America PAC had lost 20 races and won only one, with 21 uncalled, according to a WIRED analysis of election data. Tesla and SpaceX stocks have plunged in value.
Musk and his PAC spent more than $400 million since Trump retook office backing Republican candidates—nearly $87 million of it on ads targeting 42 midterm races. He also funneled more than $229 million into other political groups, chiefly the main Republican super PACs for the House and Senate, along with smaller ones formed to fight single races in Kentucky and Texas.
Of every traceable dollar Musk put into a race that has now been decided, more than 99 cents went to a race he lost.
America PAC ran ads in seven Senate races this cycle; six have been called, and Musk’s side lost all six. Sherrod Brown took back Ohio, Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan (where the PAC spent $9.2 million on ads), Josh Turek flipped Iowa, and in Maine, Troy Jackson unseated Susan Collins, a feat Democrats had long thought impossible, ending Collins’ 30-year career in the senate. As of publication time, only Alaska remains uncalled.
America PAC did not respond to a request for comment.
Texas hosted the costliest Senate race in American history, and Musk paid for more of it than anyone. Through mid-October, Texas PAC, a group funded entirely with money he routed through the Senate Leadership Fund, had spent $148 million on the contest, nearly $79 million of it attacking Democrat James Talarico and nearly $70 million propping up Ken Paxton, the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general. America PAC added another $47 million, straight from Musk.
In October, Musk posted: “There is something deeply wrong with Talarico.” Talarico replied: “There is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal US Senator.”
Musk’s millions were wasted: Shortly after 11 pm, the Associated Press called the race for Talarico, sealing Paxton’s defeat and opening a night in which Democrats toppled the Republican leadership in Austin that had spent years courting Musk’s companies with grants and tax breaks.
