Musk Is a Majority-Maker, and He Won’t Let Congress Forget It
(Bloomberg) -- Mike Johnson, fresh off a narrow reelection as US House speaker, now commands the slimmest congressional majority since 1930. It beats being in the minority, which is where Republicans seemed headed if not — at least partly — for a late infusion of cash from Elon Musk.
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A political action committee controlled by the world’s richest man spent $19.2 million in the final six weeks of the 2024 election to back Republicans in too-close-to-call races around the country, according to public reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Ten of the PAC’s 18 chosen candidates won, flipping seats in Colorado and Alaska, claiming a vacancy in Michigan and holding off stiff challenges in Iowa, Nebraska and New York.
In their first votes of 2025, all 10 joined their GOP colleagues in supporting Johnson, who also had the backing of President-elect Donald Trump – and Musk.
Musk, of course, has loudly and repeatedly declared his intentions to influence lawmakers on behalf of Trump. On X, he has a megaphone to frame issues – sometimes with misinformation – rally supporters and attack opponents. But with $437 billion in personal wealth and a political funnel in America PAC, he’s also begun to directly shape the makeup of the legislative body.
Now there are Musk-backed lawmakers on committees that oversee transportation, space, artificial intelligence, social media, defense spending and other areas that directly affect Musk’s companies. The billionaire has promised more to come ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.A spokesman for America PAC didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“Normally, PACs go somewhat dormant after a big election,” Musk wrote on X. “@America PAC is going to do the opposite and keep grinding, increasing Republican registrations in key districts around the country, in preparation for special elections and the midterms.”
Legislators are still figuring out how to react to Musk’s money, his megaphone and his proximity to Trump. Dozens, including at least two Democrats, have joined the new DOGE caucus, which pledges to support the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, an effort to slash federal spending helmed by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
The impact of Musk’s spending – and what it portends for the future – can't be overstated, Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, said. Every incumbent wants him to help the GOP hold its majority. By threatening to set up and fund primary challenges to lawmakers who oppose Trump’s legislative agenda, Musk may influence candidates for years to come.
“His money can be the very sole deciding factor in who's running for office,” Holman said. “He's probably the most persuasive person roaming the halls of Congress.”
Others, even those whose campaigns got a late influx of support from America PAC, say they don’t feel particularly beholden or doubt the staying power of the Musk-Trump alliance.
“Do I feel any debt to him? No,” said New York representative Mike Lawler. America PAC spent $1.7 million on his bid for reelection, about 12% of the total outside money that supported the candidate. Polls showed his race was within the margin of error a month before the election; he ended up beating former Democratic Congressman Mondaire Jones by 6.3 percentage points. “I’m going to continue to represent my district and my beliefs the way I have,” he said.
Lawler had no direct contact with the America PAC during the campaign, he said, and that the first time he ever spoke to Musk himself was at the Capitol after the election. “Any dollar spent in support of me is a benefit,” he added.
In Lawler’s and in almost all the other congressional races, America PAC allocated the majority of its support to field operations – door-to-door canvassing that’s expensive and often a challenge for local campaigns. The only race where it didn’t finance in-person activity was in Alaska, where it spent instead on direct mail and digital media to help Nick Begich flip the state’s at-large seat for the Republicans.
It’s impossible to measure how much Musk’s money influenced specific outcomes for its chosen candidates, given a national rightward shift, and its record was far from perfect: The PAC supported eight candidates who lost, including spending almost $5 million to support Republican challengers in Ohio, Maine, New Mexico and Washington.
Nor was Musk the only deep-pocketed donor spending to help Republicans take control of the House. But most give to broader PACs – Timothy Mellon, for example, contributed $15 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund’s $243 million war chest. By starting his own organization, Musk established a direct link with his personal wealth and his priorities.
That’s not always clear to the candidates themselves, though. When asked about the $860,000 that the America PAC spent to help him eke out a 5,800-vote win, Nebraska Republican Don Bacon said he hadn’t known. “You got me there,” he said, noting that his race against Democrat Tony Vargas, in all, involved more than $30 million.
Bacon’s been a vocal critic of Musk, slamming the billionaire for his campaign against the spending deal and for spreading misinformation on X about some of the line items, like congressional salaries.
On the billionaire’s social media network, Musk’s partisans were outraged by the lawmaker’s heresy. They called for Musk to fund a primary challenger in Bacon’s district in 2026.
--With assistance from Dana Hull and Mathieu Benhamou.
(Updates with comments from lawmakers and additional context.)
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