Musk spent record $446 million backing Republicans who largely lost US midterms - Politico
Elon Musk spent approximately $446 million supporting candidates in the November 3 US midterm elections, setting a record for political spending by someone not running for office. Yet most of the Republicans he backed lost their races, Politico reported on November 4.
More than $200 million of Musk's spending went toward campaigns and political efforts in Texas, where Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican incumbent Greg Abbott in a surprise gubernatorial victory.
Other candidates backed by Musk who lost included Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race and Vivek Ramaswamy in the Ohio governor's race.
The election results could also complicate Musk's plans to expand artificial intelligence data centers in Texas, which has become a major hub for such facilities. Abbott had been a strong supporter of technology companies and data center development.
"Texas was supposed to be an AI oasis, where people would be able to build data centers no matter what was happening in the rest of America," Sam Koppelman, publisher of investigative outlet Hunterbrook Media, told Politico. "This election totally changed that."
Reacting to the results, Musk wrote on X: "Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now."
He later joked: "Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn't work this time."
Democrats' takeover of both chambers of Congress could also bring increased scrutiny of technology executives, with some lawmakers calling for congressional hearings.
Texas Democratic Representative Greg Casar said voters had rejected Republicans partly because they were "bought and paid for by AI billionaires," urging Democrats to hold wealthy political donors accountable.
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