Musk spent at least $250M to help elect Trump, filings show
Tech billionaire Elon Musk spent at least $250 million to help propel President-elect Trump back into the White House, the latest reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show.
Throughout the 2024 election cycle, the Tesla and SpaceX executive donated nearly $239 million, including in-kind contributions, to America PAC, a super PAC that backed Trump’s Oval Office bid, according to FEC reports filed Thursday night.
That includes three $25 million contributions in the last two weeks of October, the records showed.
The outside group, which was registered with the FEC in late May, spent large amounts on get-out-the-vote initiatives, direct mail, digital advertising and canvassing. The Super PAC ran the controversial campaign of dishing out $1 million donations to Trump backers in the seven battleground states who signed its petition. The initiative was scrutinized in public and in courts with Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner suing the PAC in October in hopes of stopping the giveaway.
Each of the $1 million donation winners was listed as payments for "spokesperson consultant” by America PAC, according to FEC filings. In total, Musk spent more than $40 million on the checks.
While the majority of Musk’s public donations were steered toward America PAC, the SpaceX CEO funded another Super PAC that looked to moderate Trump’s stance on abortion.
RBG PAC, which was registered with the FEC on Oct. 16, did not disclose its donors before the 2024 general election. But the latest filing showed that Musk was its sole funder, giving $20.5 million through his Elon Musk Revocable Trust based in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 24.
The outside group, named after the late liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, suggested Trump and the late justice seemingly agreed on opposing a national abortion ban. The group’s site features Trump's Oct. 1 post on the social platform X where he vowed to veto a national abortion ban if it came his way.
“Why did Ruth Bader Ginsburg agree with Donald Trump’s position on abortion? Because RBG believed that the federal government shouldn’t dictate our abortion laws. Donald Trump also does not support a federal ban on abortion,” the group wrote on its website.
The outside group ran abortion-focused ads and spent the funds on text messages, mailers and digital advertising, FEC reports showed.
The tech tycoon also supported the Super PAC MAHA Alliance, standing for “Make America Healthy Again,” which is tied to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The group received $3 million from Musk on Oct. 22, according to FEC filings. The outside group attempted to convince Kennedy supporters to vote for Trump following the independent presidential candidate’s exit from the race.
With more FEC reports to be filed by Super PACs and other politically active groups, it is possible that Musk has given even more money to efforts backing Trump.
According to FEC filings, Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors in this year’s election cycle.
After the conclusion of the election, Musk has been a frequent guest at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, joining his calls with world leaders and, at times, weighing on the president-elect's choices of nominees and appointees.
Shortly after Trump’s win against Vice President Harris, Trump tapped Musk, along with his former 2024 GOP primary rival, Vivek Ramaswamy, to lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory board focused on cutting government spending.