Washington (United States) (AFP) - The defeat of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party in the US midterm elections also constitutes a loss for billionaire Elon Musk, as the results showed that the hundreds of millions of dollars he spent to finance huge campaigns to influence voters were not effective.

Published on: 04/11/2026 - 16:57

The richest man in the world pumped about half a billion dollars to support Republican candidates who were severely defeated at the ballot boxes on Tuesday, in light of the US Supreme Court abolishing practically all restrictions on the permissible electoral spending ceiling.

However, Musk's greatest bitterness was undoubtedly the downfall of right-wing extremist Ken Paxton in the Senate elections for the state of Texas, which the businessman, an ally of President Trump, chose as a new headquarters for most of his companies.

Although the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla spent more than $220 million to support the former Texas Attorney General, whose long career is full of scandals, 37-year-old Democrat James Tallarico, a relative newcomer to the political arena, was able to win the senator's seat.

"We've proven that all the money in the world can't stop the people of Texas," said the former San Antonio slum school teacher.

Musk, who tops the list of major donors in these elections, commented sarcastically on a group of severe setbacks suffered by Republicans that caused them to lose control of both chambers of Congress.

"It seems that the space lasers I used to interfere in the elections did not work this time," he said.

In another brief post on the “X” platform, he expressed his concern about the possibility of slowing down the establishment of data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence, as he wrote, “Data centers in space now appear to be an attractive option.”

Record size of electoral spending

AdImpact, a company that specializes in tracking advertisements, expects the volume of advertising spending to reach $11.6 billion, exceeding the previous record for the midterm elections of $8.9 billion in 2022, and even the volume of spending in the 2024 presidential cycle.

As for OpenSecrets, a non-partisan organization specializing in monitoring spending in American politics, it noted that total spending in the 2026 midterm elections rose to a record level of $11.9 billion, including hundreds of millions of dollars for the Democrats. Spending in Texas alone amounted to more than half a billion dollars.

The technology sector, especially artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, constitutes a solution for a third of the largest financiers.

Other confrontations in these elections also contributed to confirming the defeat of what Americans call “Big Money,” in reference to the huge financial spending of interest groups in the world of politics or the business world.

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who made his fortune in biotechnology and was supported by Donald Trump, was defeated by his Democratic rival, Amy Acton, in the battle for the position of governor of Ohio. The same goes for Republican billionaire Rick Jackson, who trailed Keisha Lance Bottoms by a large margin in Georgia.

According to Dr. Abdul Sayed, who won the Senate seat in Michigan over Republican Mike Rogers, and was one of the most prominent figures that marked these pivotal elections, the competing team spent more than $350 million, which is a record in the state.

"We have proven that large numbers can win the battle between money and money," he said.

© 2026 AFP

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