Elon Musk donates nearly $190 million to Texas Republican Senate candidate

Elon Musk has donated around $190 million to support Ken Paxton's 2026 Texas Senate campaign. Most of the money went to a group called the Senate Leadership Fund, which then passed it to Texas PAC, a super PAC backing Paxton. Musk sent $75 million in early September and $83 million later that month. His own political group, America PAC, spent up to $7.5 million more on the race. Musk also gave about $800,000 to Republican candidates in five other Texas races. Paxton is running against Democrat James Talarico. If Talarico wins, he will be the first Democrat to win a statewide Texas race in more than 30 years. Musk lives in Texas and runs major businesses there, including SpaceX and Tesla.