Elon Musk's team shared new figures with The New York Times showing he has steered more than $276 million to Republican efforts since July, and Lindsey Curnutte, a spokesperson for Musk's America PAC, confirmed those numbers to CNBC on Monday. The timeline lands just before a Thursday deadline at the Federal Election Commission, when political committees must file their third-quarter reports.
The biggest donation - $158 million - was sent to the Senate Leadership Fund, the primary super PAC backing Republican Senate hopefuls. That one gift is among the largest political contributions on record by a single person in U.S. history. All told, Musk's reported federal giving for 2025-26 totals roughly $366 million, which already exceeds the approximately $290 million he put in during 2024.
Beyond the Senate Leadership Fund, America PAC - the organization he created in the 2024 cycle - received more than $76 million from Musk, which it has used to expand a wide voter-mobilization operation in key Senate and House contests. He also put $20 million into the Congressional Leadership Fund, the top House Republican super PAC, and provided $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, an organization that supports Ken Paxton.
According to figures provided to the Times and affirmed by Curnutte, his checks included $10 million for the Republican Governors Association, along with $2 million for the Republican Attorneys General Association. The Senate Leadership Fund has invested heavily to protect the GOP's Senate edge this cycle, with spending reaching Texas, where GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton faces Democrat James Talarico.
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In Texas, as of Oct. 12, FiftyPlusOne's polling average shows Talarico ahead of Paxton, 48.4% to 45.0%. The trillionaire has rapidly expanded his presence in the state: Tesla, X, and The Boring Company are now based there, while SpaceX keeps ramping up manufacturing and launch activity.
The spending also marks a turn from Musk's public stance last year. "In terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future," he stated in May 2025. At that point, he was retreating after a high-profile period tied to President Donald Trump's administration, followed by a public break with the president.
Since then, they have repaired their relationship and have jointly appeared at multiple recent events. Musk still has deep links in Washington via SpaceX, a key contractor for NASA and the Pentagon, and last month Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tapped him as co-director of Project Meridian, a Pentagon group studying future warfare.
This is unusually concentrated money at an unusually high level, and it is landing in races that could shape policy on energy, defense, and tech regulation. One donor's $158 million to a single Senate super PAC is the kind of number that can tilt the air war in close states. If you own companies exposed to federal contracts or regulation - think launch providers, EV makers, defense suppliers - this is part of the policy weather your investments live in.
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