Musk Dives Into U.S. Midterms... "Approved Spending of Up to $120 Million"

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla who has spent vast sums of money to secure Republican victories during every U.S. election cycle, has officially jumped into this year's midterm elections.

According to CNN and CNBC on the 3rd local time, America PAC, a political action committee founded directly by Musk, disclosed its first expenditure details regarding the midterms to the Federal Election Commission late the previous night.

According to these records, a total of $800,000, or approximately 1.1 billion won, was spent over a roughly two-week period from August 18 to 31, with 90% of this amount funneled into federal Senate races.

Representative examples include $247,000 spent solely on the U.S. Senate race in Texas.

Texas, home to the headquarters of SpaceX and Tesla, is a traditionally Republican-leaning stronghold, but it has emerged as a battleground in these midterms.

Democratic candidate James Talarico and Republican candidate Ken Paxton are engaged in a fierce competition, and the Talarico campaign has outspent the Paxton side by pouring $25 million into advertising since late May.

Additionally, $170,000 was spent on the Maine race where Senator Susan Collins (Republican) is running for re-election, and $106,000 was allocated to the Ohio race featuring Republican candidate Jon Husted.

Funds were also provided to races in New Hampshire ($91,459), Iowa ($54,600), Michigan ($25,605), and Alaska ($17,235).

A total of $90,000 was also spent on U.S. House of Representatives races.

Support was provided for certain districts in Wisconsin, New York, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

Most of this spending is categorized under printing costs, leading to estimates that it was primarily used for direct mail advertising.

Musk is expected to pour even more money into the elections moving forward.

Musk previously drew widespread attention during the 2024 presidential election by pumping $260 million (approx. 370 billion won) into efforts to elect then-candidate Donald Trump.

Although he subsequently stated that he would drastically cut back on political spending, a New York Times report last July revealed that Musk had approved spending up to $120 million for America PAC ahead of the November midterms.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.