Voters across America appeared to repudiate Elon Musk's efforts to elect Republicans after he poured more than $445 million into conservative candidates' campaigns.
Musk, the world's richest person, funneled at least $445.7 million into GOP-aligned political action committees and candidates for the midterm elections as of October 29, according to US Federal Election Commission data.
His spending dramatically ramped up as election day approached, increasing by about $200 million in the final two months of the campaign.
Musk has since emerged as Republicans' most prominent financial backer – and the largest single-cycle donor in modern US history.
His America PAC targeted 43 House and Senate races across the United States, blanketing voters with television commercials, digital ads, text messages and mailers.
In total, the PAC made 839 independent expenditures in House races and 623 in Senate races across 17 different states.
But despite his efforts, Democrats won back control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday, as a series of deep-red states turned blue, including Texas – the state that he spent the most money in.
There, Musk's America PAC spent more than $33 million on efforts to elect Attorney General Ken Paxton to the Senate over Democrat James Talarico.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, funneled at least $445.7 million into GOP-aligned political action committees and candidates for the midterm elections
Voters across America seemed to repudiate Musk's efforts to sway the election. Campaign volunteer Buddy Luce is pictured holding up an anti-Musk sign at a polling station in Keller, Texas on Tuesday
The PAC spent $28 million on anti-Talarico content, including between $300,000 and $350,000 in October on a single Google ad targeting the Democrat.
'James Talarico supports parents being charged with child abuse if they do not support transitioning their children,' stated the ad, which was shown more than 10 million times over an eight-day period, according to The Guardian.
Musk also made a separate $168 million contribution to the Senate Leadership Fund, which supported the Paxton campaign.
He even used his X platform to repost America PAC's content to his more than 200 million followers, including an October attack ad that claimed 'Talarico wants to trans your kids and destroy the border.'
The Tesla founder lives in the Lone Star state, and has incorporated his own municipality in the remote coastal region of Boca Chica, where SpaceX has built and launched its ambitious Starship rocket.
Multiple construction projects are now underway in the city of Starbase including a community center, school, clinic and additional housing.
But Talarico, 37, wound up defeating Paxton to become the first Democrat elected to the Senate delegation in 38 years.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott was also ousted by Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa in a stunning upset as part of a 'blue tsunami' across the United States on a devastating night for Trump.
Musk's America PAC spent more than $33 million on efforts to elect Attorney General Ken Paxton to the Senate over Democrat James Talarico. He also made a separate $168 million contribution to the Senate Leadership Fund, which supported the Paxton campaign
The results were also an apparent rejection of President Donald Trump, who encouraged voters to elect Paxton.
He had originally backed the Attorney General over incumbent Senator John Cornyn as they faced off in a Republican primary runoff after Cornyn criticized the president, at one point saying that 'time has passed him by.'
With Trump's endorsement, Paxton easily won the primary.
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But some Senate Republicans saw this coming, with Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, warning that 'we cannot hold Texas if John Cornyn is not our nominee.'
On Tuesday, Talarico's crowd erupted when his victory was called at 10pm – but grew even louder when CNN called Hinojosa's victory.
Before the race was officially called, Cornyn congratulated Talarico on social media.
'The voters have spoken, and I want to extend my congratulations to James Talarico on his election to the U.S. Senate,' Cornyn posted to X. 'I look forward to meeting him and offering my assistance with his transition as he prepares to serve Texans in the U.S. Senate.'
Texas Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico addresses a crowd at a rally in Austin Monday night. On Tuesday, voters elected him the first US senator to represent Texas since 1988
President Donald Trump (left) stands alongside Texas Republican Senate hopeful, Attorney General Ken Paxton (right), during a campaign rally in Lubbock, Texas, last Tuesday
Yet Trump has denied that he is to blame for the midterm election bloodbath, instead suggesting the results are down to poor Republican candidates.
The president insisted his absence from the ballot explained the losses, despite repeatedly urging supporters to imagine he was running, including on Fox News the night before the election.
'I wasn't on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won in a landslide,' Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In a follow-up post, the president added: 'I'm going to become a political pundit, both good and bad, on the reasons these candidates won and lost.'
A White House official echoed that sentiment in a statement to the Daily Mail.
'Candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves,' the official said.
'Also, anyone who voted Democrat today is going to have a serious case of buyers' remorse when gas prices come down quickly when the Iran conflict is solved but they're still stuck with list of liberal extremist Democrats.
'And a final note here: regardless of how today plays out, President Trump's resolve to stop the Radical Left is only going to become stronger. Buckle up.'
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