Musk Gave $158M to Texas GOP Senate Race, FEC Filings Show

Federal Election Commission filings show Elon Musk has given at least $158 million to super PACs backing Texas attorney general Ken Paxton's bid for U.S. Senate, according to Wired. The disclosures, reviewed as the midterm election nears, come as polls show several Texas races closer than expected in a state that has reliably voted Republican for decades.

How much has Musk given, and to whom?

The $158 million flowing to pro-Paxton super PACs represents Musk's largest documented political outlay in the Texas midterm cycle, Wired reported, citing FEC filings. Musk also donated $5,000,000 to Governor Greg Abbott's reelection campaign, according to newly released state campaign filings cited by Wired, making him Abbott's single largest donor. Musk made his support explicit last week in a post on X: "The fate of Texas and America is at stake," he wrote. "Vote for @KenPaxtonTX today."

What is the dispute over Abbott's correspondence with Musk?

State representative Gina Hinojosa, who is running against Abbott, sued to obtain roughly 1,400 pages of the governor's correspondence with Musk, Wired reported. Abbott's office has resisted releasing the records, describing them in court filings as too "intimate and embarrassing" to disclose, according to Wired. A judge ruled this week that Abbott had illegally "obstructed and continues to obstruct" Hinojosa's right as a state lawmaker to inspect the documents and ordered their release, Wired reported. Abbott has appealed, with a hearing scheduled for November 2 — one day before the election, according to Wired.

What do critics say about Musk's influence on Paxton's campaign?

State representative James Talarico, who is running against Paxton for the Senate seat, has made Musk's financial backing a central line of attack. At a campaign event Monday in El Paso, Talarico told supporters that Paxton's donor relationship amounts to an attempt to purchase the office, according to Wired.

"Ken Paxton has the ultimate megadonor," Talarico said. "Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat."

Wired's reporting also notes Paxton's legal history: he was indicted on felony securities fraud charges that he later settled without a plea, was accused by whistleblowers of using his office to benefit a political donor's financial interests, and was impeached by the Texas House before being acquitted. Those episodes predate the current Senate race but have featured in Talarico's campaign messaging, according to Wired.

How did Musk's move to Texas change state oversight of his companies?

Musk relocated Tesla's corporate headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin in 2021, and moved SpaceX's headquarters from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas, in 2024, Wired reported. Sources told Wired that starting around 2021, lawyers in the Texas Attorney General's office — then led by Paxton under Abbott's executive branch — were increasingly directed on who and what to investigate, a departure from the prior practice of building cases from public complaints or collected evidence before seeking approval up the chain. Wired reported that internal staff raised questions in 2022 after the office's posture shifted around the same day Musk sent Twitter a letter threatening to abandon his acquisition offer, though Wired's account does not establish a confirmed causal link between the two events.

What do the key terms in this story mean?

A super PAC is a political action committee that can raise and spend unlimited sums to support or oppose candidates, provided it does not coordinate directly with a campaign, and must disclose contributions to the FEC. A CID, or civil investigative demand, is an administrative subpoena Texas's Attorney General's office can issue to compel documents or testimony as part of a state investigation, typically initiated after a complaint or evidentiary basis is established and routed for internal approval.

The disputes over Abbott's records and the scale of Musk's Senate-race spending remain unresolved heading into Election Day. The November 2 appellate hearing over the 1,400 pages of correspondence falls one day before voters decide the Paxton-Talarico Senate contest and Abbott's reelection bid, according to Wired's reporting.

Wired's full reporting, including additional detail on the Attorney General's office operations and campaign finance disclosures, is available at the originating story.

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