The final Federal Election Commission reports for the 2024 elections are in, and we now have a fuller accounting of how much Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, spent to help elect Donald Trump.
Musk donated at least $262 million since July of this year to super PACs that spent money backing Donald Trump’s election, according to FEC filings, including the just-filed post-general reports covering the period from Oct. 17 through Nov. 25.
During the post-general period, Musk dumped an additional $119.9 million into the America PAC super PAC that he created in May, the just-released FEC records show. It brings his total given to the group to $238,523,078.25. Most of that money—$79.2 million—was given directly by Musk, while the remainder—$40.8 million—was given by United States of America Inc., a Musk-formed company that was the name on the checks given out to the winners of his staged petition lottery. The FEC filing specifies that the United States of America Inc. money is attributable to Musk.
Starting in June, America PAC spent heavily on door-to-door canvassing operations for the Trump campaign, attack ads against the Democratic ticket, and pro-Trump digital ads that encouraged early voting and vote-by-mail. The group also spent money to back dozens of House Republican candidates and oppose some of their Democratic rivals. The super PAC was initially seeded with funding from allies like billionaire Silicon Valley investor Doug Leone and Musk confidante Joe Lonsdale, a VC and co-founder of Palantir.
Musk was also revealed by a FEC filing posted this evening to have provided the entirety of funding behind RBG PAC, giving $20.5 million to the group on Oct. 24. The PAC began running digital ads and text messages on Oct. 25, invoking the name of the late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to say that Trump would oppose a federal abortion ban, and that Trump and Ginsburg share a position on the matter.
Musk was the largest single donor to a super PAC called Maha Alliance, formed in early September. Its name is a reference to the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who endorsed Trump for president in August. The Maha Alliance’s website says it was “led by the powerhouse team that ran Kennedy’s presidential campaign,” and the group spent millions of dollars supporting Trump and opposing Kamala Harris. FEC records show its donors in the first half of October included $2 million from American Values 2024, the super PAC backing RFK Jr.’s presidential campaign, and $1 million from pro-Trump Florida billionaire Patricia Duggan. On Oct. 22, the group received a $3 million contribution from Musk. In the post-general election period, Maha Alliance spent $2.5 million on media and almost half a million dollars on fundraising, according to its filing.
Musk injected more money into a “dark money” group called Building America’s Future that this fall funded super PACs backing Trump and opposing Harris. The group has over a dozen individual and corporate donors, one of whom is Musk, according to the New York Times. It’s unknown how much Musk gave to the group because it is a nonprofit and is not required to disclose information about its donors.
Musk’s companies Tesla and SpaceX have combined for $15.4 billion in government contracts over the past decade, according to the New York Times.
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