The key facts
- James Talarico won the Texas Senate election — the first time since 1988 the seat has gone to the Democrats
- According to the Financial Times, Musk's PAC gave $47 million to Ken Paxton's campaign, and in total Musk invested about $446 million in the midterms
- Talarico's victory was part of a wave of Democratic successes, with the party gaining control of the US Congress
Defeat in his 'home' state
Democrat James Talarico's victory in the Texas Senate race became one of the biggest surprises of the 2026 midterms — and a personal defeat for Elon Musk, whose companies are based in that state: from Tesla's headquarters in Austin to SpaceX's Starbase spaceport. According to Financial Times, cited by BBC News, Musk's political committee directed $47 million (£35 million) to Republican Ken Paxton's campaign, and in September he also transferred $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund. The money did not help: the Senate seat went to the Democrats for the first time since 1988.
The biggest donor of the election
Talarico was not Musk's only project: according to figures cited by the BBC, he invested about $446 million in supporting Republican candidates and became the largest private donor of the midterm elections overall. The funds went through Super PACs — committees that can raise unlimited sums but are not allowed to coordinate with candidates' campaigns. Musk became one of the Republican Party's biggest donors back in 2024, spending hundreds of millions on Donald Trump's winning presidential campaign; this time, comparable sums did not work.
Social media campaign and reaction
In addition to funding through outside groups, Musk used his own platform, X, to spread conspiracy theories about Talarico — in particular, he wrote that 'there is something deeply wrong with Talarico' after the candidate briefly disappeared from the campaign trail in October. Talarico responded: 'There really is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows a trillionaire to buy himself a personal US senator.' In his victory speech, he declared: 'We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas.' Musk himself reacted ironically, writing on X: 'Apparently, my election-interfering space lasers didn't work this time.'
What this means nationally
Talarico's victory became a key turning point of the midterm elections and part of a wave of Democratic wins across the country, as a result of which they gained control of the US Congress. A separate signal for Musk's businesses came from the markets: the morning after the election, amid an overall rise in stock prices, Tesla shares fell 4.9% and SpaceX shares 3.4%. The BBC notes that many Democrats openly opposed the expansion of AI data centers during the campaign.
Image source, Getty Images 
