Elon Musk currently ranks fourth in a new list of the biggest political donors in the lead up to the midterm elections, according to an analysis by the New York Times. But the wealthiest man in the world is reportedly meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on Friday and there’s plenty of time for Musk to spread even more of his money around to support Republicans and President Donald Trump.
The New York Times looked at the 20 biggest donors, who have poured a combined $1.2 billion into candidates for federal elections this cycle. The top five include Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz ($115 million), George and Alex Soros ($103 million), Jeff Yass ($94 million), Elon Musk ($90 million), and the Republican nonprofit One Nation ($76 million), an arm of the Senate Leadership Fund. All donors in the top five except for the Soros family are supporting Republicans.
Musk spent about $290 million during the 2024 presidential cycle to help Donald Trump and other Republicans take control of the government. The tech oligarch was rewarded with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a conspiracy to decimate the federal government. Musk helped oversee the departure of about 300,000 federal employees and unilaterally decided which programs to keep or eliminate, in defiance of Congress, which famously controls the purse strings of government.
Musk has authorized his super PAC, America PAC, to spend at least $100 million, but other reports have suggested he plans to spend as much as $200 million before the midterms are held in November. Politico notes that Republicans have a “significant cash advantage” over Democrats this year, and Musk seems likely to be a big part of that war chest. Especially if he can get what he wants out of that money.
What does Musk want? If you read his X account, he seems obsessively focused on keeping the U.S. as white as possible, something Trump has been doing with his immigration policy. Trump halted all refugee admissions in 2025 except for white South Africans, who now make up 99% of “refugees” admitted to the U.S. The Washington Post reported Friday that white South African refugees may start receiving $4,500 per person starting Oct. 1, double the previous amount. Musk is originally from South Africa, and his brother famously said the two men were illegal immigrants in the U.S. before they gained citizenship.
This is extremely important to understand.
The birth rate you see in the West is the BLENDED number of ~90% who have a fertility rate half that of replacement and ~10% who have a birth rate double that of replacement.
Demographics is destiny. https://t.co/18EJsYDFME
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2026
Musk is also interested in lucrative government contracts, including for his space/AI business SpaceX. As CNN reported earlier this year, “virtually all” of Musk’s wealth traces back to government contracts. When the SpaceX CEO was discarding contracts as the head of DOGE, many people noticed that every one of the oligarch’s own projects remained intact. That’s no mistake, obviously, and is a hallmark of democratic backsliding.
Musk, who’s worth $857 billion according to Forbes, probably wants to avoid getting investigated by political adversaries as well. When he sat down with Tucker Carlson before the 2024 election Musk said that part of why he wanted Trump to defeat Kamala Harris was that he’d wind up in jail.
“I’m fucked. If he loses, I’m fucked,” Musk said at the time. “How long do you think my prison sentence is going to be? Do you think? Will I see my children? I don’t know.”
The New York Times is a bit more… let’s say diplomatic in its description of Musk’s aims: “Mr. Musk’s goals go beyond just shaping tech policy, and he donated $15 million to back two candidates in Ohio and Kentucky who resonated with him personally.”
Resonated with him personally? In Ohio, the paper is referring to Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy, and in Kentucky they’re talking about U.S. Senate hopeful Nate Morris. Ramaswamy wants to get rid of birthright citizenship (something he benefited from), and Morris is an anti-immigrant hardliner. Maybe that’s what they mean by resonating with Musk personally. Morris dropped out of the Kentucky race before the primary because he polled so poorly, but Trump appointed him as the U.S. ambassador to Colombia.
The U.S. political system enables a form of legalized bribery, as any regular person would understand the term. Even All-In podcaster Jason Calacanis framed it in those terms on X, writing, “it’s so uncouth that the affluent donate these dollar amounts and that politicians accept them.” Calacanis, a friend of Musk, continued, “bribe a cop and they throw you in jail, bribe a politician and they make you king.” It’s unclear whether Calacanis noticed that Musk is on that list.
Musk didn’t respond to questions emailed to his company X on Friday. Gizmodo will update this article when we hear back, which is extremely unlikely given his history of ignoring press inquiries.
