Musk's Nearly $500 Million in 2026 Election Spending Draws Scrutiny as Midterms Near
Photo: The Daily SignalElon Musk has put nearly half a billion dollars into elections in the 2026 cycle, making him the largest single disclosed donor in modern American politics. The spending comes as the midterms approach and as Musk's relationship with Democrats has sharply worsened. He voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, then said publicly in 2022 that he would vote Republican. Critics have since attacked him harshly. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called him one of the most unintelligent billionaires she has met, Bill Gates said his push for cuts to U.S. foreign aid was killing the world's poorest children, and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich this week demanded that SpaceX and Starlink be nationalized. One commentary counted more than 80 attacks on Tesla cars and dealerships in early 2025. Separately, former President Barack Obama has been campaigning in Michigan.
The right-leaning Daily Signal, the only right-side item here, runs a lightly edited transcript of Victor Davis Hanson's commentary. Its headline says Obama's attacks on Trump are backfiring, and the excerpt has host Jack Fowler describing Obama on the stump in Michigan. The excerpt does not mention Musk or his donations. CNN, on the left, leads with the money, using the dollar total and the largest-donor ranking. Its headline suggests a Republican midterm win might be traced to Musk's spending. ZeroHedge, on the alternative side, offers a distinct angle. It centers on what it calls the left's venom toward Musk, names Welch, Ocasio-Cortez, Gates and Reich, and links the rhetoric to the Tesla attacks. The three pieces share a midterm backdrop but little else: the right-leaning piece centers on Obama and Trump, CNN on Musk's spending, and ZeroHedge on reactions to Musk.
How the sides differ Right sources, in the excerpt available, focus on Obama's Michigan campaigning; left sources stress Musk's record spending; alternative sources focus on left-wing hostility toward Musk.
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CNN leads with the scale of Musk's roughly half-billion-dollar spending and his status as the largest disclosed donor, framing it as potentially decisive for Republicans in the midterms.
ZeroHedge's commentary examines hostility toward Musk from the left, citing Ocasio-Cortez, Gates, Reich and Jennifer Welch, his earlier Democratic votes, and 2025 attacks on Teslas.
The Daily Signal runs a Victor Davis Hanson transcript in which Jack Fowler raises Obama's Michigan campaigning, and the headline says Obama's attacks on Trump are backfiring; the excerpt does not mention Musk.