Elon Musk spends $277 million to back Trump and Republican candidates

Elon Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to back President-elect Donald Trump and other Republican candidates, campaign finance records filed Thursday show.

The sum makes Musk, the world’s richest person, the largest donor in the 2024 election cycle to either party, Federal Election Commission filings show.

The bulk of Musk’s spending was through his own America PAC, to which he contributed $239 million. But filings also showed that Musk was also behind a political action committee using the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s namesake — “RBG PAC” — in advertisements with misleading claims that Ginsburg held views on abortion that were similar to Trump’s. 

Ginsburg’s granddaughter, Clara Spera, told The New York Times in October that the PAC was an “affront to her grandmother’s legacy,” and it was “nothing short of appalling” that Ginsburg’s name was being used to support Trump’s reelection campaign. Ginsburg openly supported abortion rights, whereas Trump put three conservative justices on the Supreme Court who were part of the majority opinion in the case striking down the federal right to an abortion. 

Musk put $20.5 million into the PAC, the only contribution it received. The group ran advertisements emphasizing Trump’s statements that he would veto a national abortion ban if elected, and pointing to Ginsburg’s statements that the decision in Roe v. Wade went too far. 

Musk also donated $10 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which supports Republican Senate candidates, and $3 million to the MAHA Alliance PAC, a group affiliated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” message.

Through the America PAC, his main campaign vehicle, Musk and a handful of other donors funded a get-out-the-vote effort through door-knocking, texting, phone calls, mailers and advertisements. 

By far, America PAC’s biggest expense was a $40.5 million payment to United States of America, Inc, a company registered last month with an address associated with Musk. It’s unclear how exactly those funds were used. 

In October, Musk also pledged to give away $1 million a day to a registered voter in Pennsylvania who signed his petition. The sweepstakes were challenged in court, but a judge ruled that they could proceed. Musk’s lawyers said the winners were not chosen by chance, but instead based on their personal stories, and the funds were part of a contract they signed to become spokespeople for his America PAC. Musk is now facing multiple lawsuits from participants who claim it was falsely billed as a lottery. 

He rose as a major political donor rapidly. In March, he posted on X, the social media platform Musk owns, that he would not donate to either presidential candidate. And then on July 3, he made his first contribution of $5 million to America PAC. Ten days later, he publicly announced his endorsement of Trump and quickly became a key figure in the former president’s campaign. 

At a rally Musk held in Pennsylvania for Trump on Oct. 20, he reiterated a message featured in many of his X posts. 

“This is the most important election in your lifetime,” he said. “If there’s any election where you ever vote, it should be this one.”

After Trump’s victory, the president-elect tapped him to lead a new initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency with former Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, advising the president on cutting $500 billion in annual spending and reducing federal government positions.