Musk Pours $158 Million Into Texas Senate Race as Paxton Faces Tight Challenge
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 23
Musk Pours $158 Million Into Texas Senate Race as Paxton Faces Tight Challenge
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 23
Summary
$158 million from Elon Musk hit the Texas Senate race late last month, giving Republican Ken Paxton a major cash boost as Democrats see an opening.
Musk paired the spending with attacks on Democrat James Talarico on X, calling him “creepy” and falsely claiming he would take children from parents for gender-transition treatment.
Paxton enters the race burdened by fraud indictments, whistleblower complaints, impeachment and a public divorce, vulnerabilities that have helped make the contest unusually competitive in Texas.
Polls cited in the report show 37-year-old Talarico holding a steady but narrowing lead, raising the prospect of a symbolic Republican loss in a state long treated as a conservative stronghold.
The Texas infusion forms a large slice of Musk’s broader 2026 political push after he committed $366 million across the midterms, much of it to Republican groups and his America PAC.
Could the growing overlap between massive private wealth and government defense contracts signal a new era of corporate influence over national security?
Will placing top defense contractors in charge of military advisory boards redefine the future of warfare or create unprecedented ethical conflicts?
How Elon Musk’s $369 Million Political Spending and SpaceX’s $6.45 Billion Federal Contracts Redefined U.S. Power and Oversight in 2026
Overview
In 2026, Elon Musk became the largest political donor in U.S. history, channeling $369 million into Republican campaigns while SpaceX secured $6.45 billion in federal defense contracts. Soon after, Musk was appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he kept his executive roles and gained access to confidential government and competitor data. This raised alarms among ethics watchdogs and rival contractors, especially as regulatory agencies faced budget cuts and slowed enforcement on Musk’s companies. Legal challenges followed, including a court order blocking DOGE from sensitive Treasury systems, while public backlash and grassroots fundraising surged in response to Musk’s influence.