The entrepreneur, who first announced his investment in July, spent more than half of that money on Texas candidates
Elon Musk is reacting after he backed Republican candidates in the midterm election to the tune of $474 million only for the majority of them to lose in a stunning rebuke by voters.
“Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” Musk, 55, posted to X on Monday, Nov. 4, shortly after Texas elected James Talarico to the U.S. Senate, voted Gina Hinojosa as its new governor and elevated a slate of other Democrats to statewide office.
One minute earlier, Musk joked on X: “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”
The entrepreneur — who moved the Tesla, SpaceX and X headquarters to Texas after his own move there in 2020 — was counting on candidates Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton and Dan Patrick to win and continue the Republicans’ three-decade-long success in the state.
According to campaign finance records analyzed by CNBC, Musk gave nearly half of his contributions — about $224 million — to Texas candidates.
After garnering 55% of the vote, Talarico, 37, specifically targeted Musk in his victory speech. “We just sent a message to every billionaire mega-donor, every trillionaire mega-donor, every corrupt defender of this broken political system,” he said.
In July, Musk abruptly changed course and reinvested in politics after stepping away following a feud with President Donald Trump.
But the pair seemingly mended fences, appearing together at Charlie Kirk‘s memorial service in September 2025 and traveling to China together during Trump’s state visit with President Xi Jinping in May.
Trump senior political adviser James Blair, who previously served as the White House deputy chief of staff from 2025 to 2026, told Axios in July that Musk’s operation was “an essential partner” in the 2024 presidential election and would be a “huge boost” to Republicans this year.
“We will again outsmart our opponents and ruthlessly execute our mission for the GOP between now and Election Day,” Blair said at the time.