Elon Musk’s America PAC spent close to $500 million supporting Republican candidates, but the investment delivered disappointing results in key races and may have made Musk a liability for the party. WIRED contributors Vittoria Elliott, Leah Figer and Hugo Lowell discuss how the PAC’s money shaped Republican politics, its weak ground operation and Musk’s potential influence over the 2028 presidential race.
America PAC’s money came with Musk’s brand
“Two years ago, America PAC was such a new force in Republican politics,” Vittoria Elliott said. The political action committee benefited from a Republican fundraising environment that attracted money not only from Musk, but also from major venture capital figures such as Sean Maguire.
In 2024, however, the PAC’s ground operation was not necessarily strong. Its strategy relied largely on injecting money into campaigns, a model Elliott compared with the way venture capital firms continue funding a team until it succeeds. She said that strategy now appears to be failing, with early signs emerging in the months after DOGE that Musk had become a toxic figure for Republicans to embrace.
“We’ve got a monkey’s paw situation where we can take America PAC’s money, but it gets smeared with the Musk brand,” Elliott said. At best, she argued, the funding and Musk’s reputation may cancel each other out. At worst, the Musk brand appears more damaging than the money can compensate for.
Musk’s candidates suffered major losses
Leah Figer agreed with Elliott and turned to Hugo Lowell, who has been involved in WIRED’s live tracker of Musk’s political spending, to discuss the candidates Musk supported and their results.
“Musk’s America PAC totaled close to $500 million,” Lowell said, adding that Musk spent $500 million alone during this mid-cycle period. At that scale, he said, Musk was effectively operating a “shadow Republican National Committee.” Without the PAC’s funding, some of the losses might have been even greater, Lowell added, but the spending still failed to deliver major victories.
Texas was Musk’s biggest focus because it is his home base. He spent the most time, money and resources there, but “basically got nothing,” Lowell said. Ken Paxton lost by a wide margin, while Gina Hinojosa, running alongside James Talarico, was elected governor.
A possible kingmaker through 2028
Republican operatives and people in Donald Trump’s political orbit may ultimately judge Musk’s spending by what it buys him, Lowell said. For Musk, $500 million is effectively “a rounding error,” despite the extraordinary scale of the sum.
The likely benefit, Lowell argued, is that Musk can continue playing kingmaker through 2028. If he chooses to support a particular presidential candidate, few potential rivals could compete with him financially. “If he sinks another $500 million or more in the next cycle, who else has that kind of money?” Lowell said.
Source: www.wired.com