A billionaire deserves the same say in who runs this country as a nurse working a double shift, and not one ounce more.
Here’s the Math
Since July, Elon Musk has put more than $276 million into Republican groups and his own super PAC. He gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund in one summer, the most that group has ever taken from a single donor in a quarter, and more than its Democratic rival raised from every donor it had.
He gave another $76 million to America PAC, his own outfit, which paid canvassers $1.50 to $3.00 a door to knock on 6.5 million of them. Then came $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, $10 million to the super PAC backing Ken Paxton, $10 million to the Republican Governors Association, and $2 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association.
In May 2025 he promised, “I’m going to do a lot less in the future.” He spent more. And let’s not forget this little beauty:
What changed?
Today he’s back to having dinner with Trump and his total this cycle comes to about $366 million, on top of roughly $290 million in 2024 to put Trump and Republicans back in power. And that counts only the money we know about, because he also sends millions through groups that never have to name their donors.
Every dollar a billionaire spends on an election is an investment, and investors always come to collect. Follow the money. Musk lives in Austin with major business and property interests in Texas, and his empire feeds on enormous federal contracts.
Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general running for Senate, has investigated Musk’s opponents, including Media Matters. Musk’s $10 million hit Paxton’s super PAC right when Paxton was getting badly outspent, and his $158 million landed at the Senate Leadership Fund right before that group, run by allies of Majority Leader John Thune, launched a $149 million ad campaign for Paxton. The return, it shows up later, in who gets investigated and who gets the contracts.
The Problem and the Fix
Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that opened the floodgates to unlimited outside spending, built the super PAC machine Musk runs today. Free speech stops being free the moment only billionaires afford the loudest version of it. I did a deep dive for you in my April 2025 article.1
The fix takes two moves. Congress passes laws that drag every hidden dollar into daylight and put a hard cap on what any one person directly or indirectly spends to sway a race, and the rest of us push through a constitutional amendment that kills Citizens United for good.
Tell your senators and your representative you want both (202-224-3121), and ask every candidate on your November ballot where they stand, because Musk already placed his $366 million bet on this election and the one thing left that outweighs it is your vote.
Mitch Jackson, Esq. [audio version here]
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention in a way that is easily understood. I appreciate all your efforts to save our democracy!
Elon say “GOP been berry berry good to me”