Musk pours $276m into Republican causes ahead of US midterms

Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest person, has been pouring large sums into Republican-aligned groups ahead of the November midterm elections.

Musk has donated more than $276 million to Republican organizations and a super PAC he founded since July, his spokespeople told The New York Times on Monday (local time).

The figure is believed to be the largest single-donor contribution in this midterm election cycle.

Of that total, $158 million went to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates — one of the largest political donations in American history and more than the entire fundraising haul of the rival Democratic Senate committee for the same quarter.

Musk also donated more than $76 million to America PAC, which he established in 2024. The group has deployed about 3,000 campaign workers across seven competitive Senate races and more than 30 House districts, urging Republican-leaning voters to turn out while warning of the rising influence of democratic socialists within the Democratic Party. Workers were paid $1.50 to $2 per household visit, The New York Times added.

Musk also gave $20 million to the House Leadership Fund, a super PAC for House Republicans, and $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, which backs Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate in Texas.

He contributed an additional $10 million to the Republican Governors Association and $2 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association.

Musk's heavy investment in the Republican Party appears to reflect the deep ties his businesses have with the federal government.

SpaceX and Starlink, for instance, are heavily dependent on policies set by agencies such as NASA and the Federal Communications Commission, while his electric vehicle business is also closely linked to government policy.

Musk moves closer to Trump again

Musk has also been visibly aligning himself with President Donald Trump. After stepping down last year as head of the Department of Government Efficiency and clashing with Trump to the point of floating the idea of launching a third party, the two are said to have since repaired their relationship.

On Saturday (local time), Musk wrote on X that "there is no more AI," adding, "It's SI — superintelligence. That's better."

When a user asked whether he planned to rename his AI company to SpaceXSI, Musk replied, "Yes," adding, "We will make that change."

The remarks were seen as an effort to align with Trump, who has pushed to replace the term "AI" with "SI."

Trump has signed an executive order directing that the word "artificial" be replaced with "SI," arguing that the term fosters negative perceptions of the technology.

However, Musk did not specify when or how the name change would be carried out.

On Thursday (local time), Trump presented the National Medal of Science — the country's highest honor in science and technology — to Musk and other leaders of major US technology companies.

Recipients included Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and AMD CEO Lisa Su. Trump offered detailed remarks on each honoree's career and achievements, though his comments about Musk were notably longer than those for the others.

Trump called Musk a "national treasure" and "the modern-day Thomas Edison," also referring to him as "my friend." Trump said "few Americans in history have done more to advance the national interest than Elon," adding that "in countless fields, his genius and determination have turned science fiction into reality."

yul@heraldcorp.com