Tens of millions of dollars are flowing into Texas as Democrats make a competitive bid for a Senate seat in a state long considered a Republican stronghold. Elon Musk, the world's richest person, has emerged as a key figure in the race.
According to reports confirmed by the Guardian, Musk gave $158 million in September to the Senate Leadership Fund, the primary super PAC backing Republican Senate candidates. The donation accounted for more than half of the fund's third-quarter fundraising. Separately, Musk donated $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, a committee dedicated to supporting Ken Paxton.
The intervention came as Republicans struggled to keep up with spending by Paxton's Democratic opponent, James Talarico. Over the summer, Talarico released an ad painting Paxton negatively as a politician with a history of corruption. Talarico raised $64 million in the third quarter, the largest quarterly fundraising by any Senate candidate in history, according to Politico.
Polls show the two candidates are essentially tied, with some surveys placing Talarico narrowly ahead. The Senate Leadership Fund had earlier warned that supporting Paxton would cost between $150 million and $200 million. Donald Trump personally chose Paxton as the Republican nominee.
When Musk's team and the Senate Leadership Fund analyzed polling and found Paxton's chances of winning dwindling, Musk stepped in, Axios reported. An unnamed Democratic strategist working in Texas told Politico: "He's fighting this battle basically alone while Elon Musk and the full weight of the GOP fundraising apparatus outspends him 2:1. This is still an uphill battle."
The Texas Senate race is one of the most competitive in the country and is expected to cost millions of dollars because it is an expensive state to run a campaign.