The key facts

  • Democrats won majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the midterm elections
  • Musk directed nearly $500 million to Republicans — a record for a private donor since 2010
  • Of the $158 million transferred to the Senate Leadership Fund in September, part went to supporting Ken Paxton in Texas, who lost to Democrat James Talarico

Defeat after record spending

Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday reacted to the Republican Party's defeat in the US midterm elections, the AFP agency reported. According to the agency, Democrats took control of Congress on Tuesday, winning majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives — a result AFP describes as a stunning rejection of President Donald Trump's political agenda.

A joke on X and the scale of the spending

“Looks like my election-interfering space lasers didn't work this time,” Musk wrote on the social network X, accompanying the post with a shrug emoji. According to the campaign finance tracker OpenSecrets, cited by AFP, Musk directed nearly half a billion dollars to support Republicans, becoming the largest private donor of the federal election cycle since spending limits on elections were lifted in 2010. The donations went mainly to his Republican-oriented America PAC, as well as to the Republican Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) supercommittee.

A Texas defeat funded by Musk's money

The SLF used the $158 million donated by Musk in September to support Ken Paxton — the Republican Senate candidate from Texas and a close Trump ally. Paxton lost to Democrat James Talarico, who became the first Democrat to win a statewide election in Texas since 1994. At his victory rally in Austin, Talarico directed criticism at Musk: “In this race we faced our own Goliaths — the richest man in the world, the most influential man in the world, and the entire Washington establishment,” AFP quoted him as saying.