Elon Musk funneled $474 million into Tuesday’s US midterms, and based on polling estimates after a definitive Democratic sweep, approximately 98% of that money went to losing candidates.
A trace of Musk’s midterm donations by Wired estimated even higher: 99% to losers.
Even worse, Musk ended up losing an additional $33 billion of personal net worth within 24 hours of polls closing, as spooked investors in Tesla and SpaceX sold down shares in fear of political tides turning after the blue wave.
Most of Musk’s donations went to Republican super PACs, political action committees that can raise unlimited amounts of money.
Federal filings trace Musk’s money through three main pipes. His own America PAC collected roughly $216 million, the Senate Leadership Fund took $168 million, and the Congressional Leadership Fund, which backs House Republicans, took $30 million.
Musk steered at least $225 million into Texas, by OpenSecrets’ count, including Ken Paxton’s doomed campaign for Senator. Paxton lost to Democrat James Talarico by a double-digit margin in a surprising upset for the historically conservative state.
Ad-tracking firm AdImpact called Tuesday’s Texas Senate seat contest the costliest Senate race on record for political advertising, with $573 million in spending and reservations through October 30.
Musk was the largest single donor to that race, and his candidate lost.
New – 98% of the money musk spent in the midterms went to candidates who lost yesterday pic.twitter.com/2rkpwd4V5w
Both of Musk’s publicly traded companies, Tesla and SpaceX, sank in Wednesday’s trading session as news of Musk’s political losses disseminated.
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