Hello, Texans, and others thinking a lot about the U.S. Senate race taking place between James Talarico and Ken Paxton. If you live in Texas, you’ve likely been bombarded with political ads describing the various real and perceived shortcomings, flaws, and failures of both candidates. You may have noticed some ads a few weeks ago that were highly critical of James Talarico for accepting super PAC money that was donated by Reid Hoffman, somewhere in the neighborhood of $11.5 million. Much was made politically of Reid Hoffman’s connection to disgraced child predator, Jeffrey Epstein. And that felt like a lot of money and gross-feeling connections, right up until Elon Musk jumped into the fray.
With a donation of upwards of $150 million, Elon Musk has become the largest single donor to emerge in the race. This is all interesting news given that the Paxton campaign and aligned super PACs had spent so much energy on teasing out the connections between Talarico, Reid Hoffman, his donation, and connections to Jeffrey Epstein. Those Talarico-attack ads came off the air just as Elon Musk was getting ready to throw 15x more millions into the race while also having a clear connection to Jeffrey Epstein. So what is actually going on in Texas?
What the filings show
Elon Musk gave $75 million to the main Senate Republican super PAC on Sept. 9, 2026. The next day, that super PAC put the same amount into a new committee called Texas PAC, set up to help Ken Paxton win the state’s U.S. Senate seat, The Texas Tribune reported.
That was the first of two gifts. Together they make Musk the largest known source of money in the race between Paxton, the Republican attorney general, and James Talarico, a Democratic state representative, which the Cook Political Report rates a toss-up.
What follows lays out what filings and news reports show about how much, through which groups, and when, and what remains unconfirmed.
The super PAC route
A super PAC can take unlimited contributions and spend them on ads for or against candidates, as long as that spending isn’t made in cooperation with a campaign.
Musk’s money went to the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF). According to the Tribune, he gave $75 million on Sept. 9 and $83 million about two weeks later, and each time SLF moved an equal sum into Texas PAC the following day. Axios reported the same $158 million total and the same day-after transfers.
SLF has not said the gifts were earmarked for Texas. Its executive director, Alex Latcham, told Bloomberg TV that “generous investors” had “dedicated money to an affiliate, Texas PAC,” the Tribune reported, and said the group would spend nearly $200 million in the race.
SLF has spent more than $159 million on ads there, double what Talarico’s campaign has spent, according to ad-tracking firm AdImpact as cited by the Tribune.
America PAC
Musk also funds his own super PAC, America PAC. Its first disclosed spending this year was about $800,000 nationwide, and almost $250,000 of it went to support Paxton and oppose Talarico, the Tribune reported. Fox News broke that down as about $125,000 for Paxton and $123,000 against Talarico.
The pace picked up. Through Oct. 13, America PAC had spent $18.8 million on the Texas Senate race, more than 80 percent of it against Talarico, according to FEC filings cited by the Tribune. A person familiar with the effort told CNN the PAC was hiring for an “expansive turnout operation” in Texas.
A third channel
Reuters reported that $10 million of Musk’s spending went to Lone Star Liberty PAC, a pro-Paxton super PAC. The Tribune described an agreement under which Musk would give $10 million if SLF gave $5 million and the PAC raised another $5 million. By mid-July, the PAC had raised just under $4.3 million in all.
How much Elon Musk has put into Texas
Totals differ by source. The gifts to SLF come to $158 million. The Tribune wrote that Musk “appears to have poured nearly $190 million” into the race, without a breakdown. Adding America PAC’s $18.8 million and the $10 million to Lone Star Liberty to the $158 million comes to about $187 million, by The Feedsack’s arithmetic.
Nationally, Reuters reported that Musk has spent roughly $366 million on the 2026 midterms, at least $276 million of it since July, compared with roughly $290 million in the last election cycle.
Elon Musk and the Texas primary
Paxton won the Republican nomination by beating Sen. John Cornyn in a May 26 runoff, after neither reached a majority in the March 3 primary. In that runoff, groups backing Cornyn outspent groups backing Paxton by close to 9 to 1, the Tribune reported. SLF backed Cornyn in the primary. The reporting reviewed for this story found no Musk spending in the primary or runoff.
Beyond the Senate race: Elon Musk in Texas
CNN reported that Musk has given $3 million to Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a business group active in legislative races, $2 million to the Judicial Fairness PAC, and six-figure contributions to Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows. CNN did not give dates, and those gifts were not checked against Texas Ethics Commission records for this story. Texas has no limits on campaign contributions in most state races, Texas Standard reported.
Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin in 2021 and said in 2024 he would move SpaceX and X to Texas too.
On the heels of Musk’s massive cash infusion into Paxton’s campaign, details began emerging in which the state of Texas was considering selling over 1,000 acres of state land to Elon Musk. Money can’t buy everything, but apparently $150 million can buy you a meeting agenda item with the Parks and Wildlife Department, where they discuss selling you a state park consisting mostly of public beaches in South Texas.
The other side’s money
Talarico’s own campaign has raised far more than Paxton’s: over $70 million since he launched his bid, to Paxton’s roughly $17 million over the same period, the Tribune reported in July. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman gave $10 million in June to Lone Star Rising, the pro-Talarico super PAC. Talarico’s campaign said it “has no control over contributions to any super PAC.”
What they’ve said
Paxton has not commented publicly on Musk’s support, the Tribune reported. America PAC spokesman Andrew Romeo told CNN the group “is working in full coordination with the entire GOP apparatus.” CJ Warnke, communications director of House Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, told CNN that “Elon Musk is toxic and one of the most unpopular figures in America.” Musk told The Economist in July, “I think I got a little too involved in politics,” CNN reported. The reporting reviewed for this story found no comment from him on the Texas race itself.
What’s next
Super PACs and other quarterly filers active in the general election owe the FEC pre-general reports by Oct. 22, covering Oct. 1 to 14. Election Day is Nov. 3.
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