// THE VERGE — MONDO
Not even $200 million could help Elon Musk buy Texas
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Elon Musk’s wall of money fell to the blue tsunami.
Elon Musk’s wall of money fell to the blue tsunami.
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James Talarico, the Democratic Texas senator-elect, not only managed to flip the state in yesterday’s midterms but prevailed in the most expensive Senate election to date. More than $573 million was spent on advertisements between Talarico, his Republican opponent Ken Paxton, and their aligned PACs. And a big chunk of that money came from just one man: Elon Musk.
Musk reportedly spent more than $445 million supporting Republicans in the midterms, making him not only by far the biggest donor in the 2026 election cycle but also in American history. And most of his money was spent in Texas, his home state and the headquarters of both Tesla and SpaceX. Musk funneled more than $168 million to super PACs that supported Paxton; Musk’s own America PAC, to which he funneled $216 million, also spent $34.7 million of those funds in Texas. All told, that’s more than $200 million spent on a single state.
But Musk’s millions couldn’t buy him an election. Talarico beat Paxton by more than 12 points, becoming Texas’ first Democratic senator since 1988. And the governor’s seat flipped, too: Democrat Gina Hinojosa ousted Republican incumbent Greg Abbott, another beneficiary of Musk’s largesse. The Democratic fantasy of a blue Texas finally became reality — and it happened despite the efforts of the world’s first trillionaire.