Elon Musk donates $150M for Texas Senate ads supporting Ken Paxton

Elon Musk has donated more than $150 million to support Texas Republican Ken Paxton in his U.S. Senate race against Democrat James Talarico, according to campaign finance filings reported by News Radio 570 WWNC and The Texas Tribune.

Musk's contributions were funneled through the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), a major GOP super PAC targeting Senate races. On September 9, Musk donated $75 million to SLF, which then transferred the same amount to a newly formed Texas PAC created specifically to support Paxton's campaign.

CNN reported that Musk made an additional $83 million donation to SLF on September 23, which was also passed on to the Texas PAC. This funding has enabled SLF to spend over $159 million on TV, radio, and digital advertising in Texas, more than double the $64 million raised by Talarico's campaign in the third quarter, as noted by Moneyweb.

Musk, who lives in Austin and has significant business interests in Texas including SpaceX and Tesla, became involved after his political team expressed concerns about Paxton's standing in the race to SLF, leading to an agreement to support Paxton's campaign.

Paxton, the Texas attorney general, has not publicly commented on Musk's support but has previously praised Musk for backing Republican candidates. The Senate race remains closely watched with no clear leader in recent polls.