Musk funds GOP midterms after SpaceX contract. Coincidence? | Opinion
Some news this week about Elon Musk reminded me of my rule on political coincidences: I don't believe in them.
Axios on July 29 reported that Musk is reviving his political action committee, America PAC, with a "huge investment" to drive Republican voter turnout in November's midterm elections. The New York Times then confirmed that Musk was looking to shell out $100 million to $120 million on that effort.
Musk got some good news from the U.S. Space Force on the same day as the revival of America PAC, which with Musk spent nearly $290 million in 2024 to help President Donald Trump win a second term and assist Republicans in taking control of Congress. His company, SpaceX, had just landed a $1.6 billion government contract to launch 18 rockets.
SpaceX made a huge stock market splash when the company went public in June, making Musk the first trillionaire. But the stock price plummeted back to earth after that, until the contract news gave it new thrust in the market.
Think these events are unrelated? I seriously doubt it.
But Republicans eager for Musk's money to win an edge in the midterms – currently tilted toward Democratic wins in Congress – would be wise to show some caution. America PAC's 2024 efforts are still hung up in legal battles two years later. And one of those lawsuits might get tangled up in the elections.
Also this: Musk's big spending to influence a state supreme court election in Wisconsin in 2025 went spectacularly bad and has raised questions about whether America PAC broke the law.
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In Pennsylvania, Musk and America PAC are being sued by three men who said they were stiffed after being promised money in 2024 to sign petitions in support of the U.S. Constitution's First and Second Amendments and to encourage others to sign.
Their lawyer, Shannon Liss-Riordan, told me many America PAC supporters "now feel duped for having worked toward their political aims but not being paid what they were promised."
"It is very concerning that America PAC is wading into the 2026 election cycle, after its duplicity that has still not been remedied from its actions in 2024," said Liss-Riordan, who is seeking class-action status for the case.
An America PAC spokesperson told CNN in 2025 that the committee was "committed to paying for every legitimate petition signature, which is evidenced by the fact that we have paid tens of millions of dollars to canvassers for their hard work in support of our mission.”
But that lawsuit could now intertwine America PAC's 2024 troubles with Musk's latest election efforts.
"We are looking into whether America PAC should be required to disclose our federal lawsuit in connection with its activities in this next election cycle," Liss-Riordan told me.
In Texas, a federal judge in June ordered that Musk must testify under oath in a deposition for a lawsuit filed by two Arizona women who said they were enticed and defrauded to provide personal information after America PAC promised to give away $1 million every day to randomly selected voters in swing states until Election Day in 2024.
America PAC, as part of a lawsuit in Pennsylvania, later disclosed in 2024 that the voters who got paid were not randomly selected after all.
In Wisconsin, the state's bipartisan Elections Commission referred two complaints on July 10 to a local district attorney's office after finding probable cause that Musk and America PAC broke the law by promising to give $1 million to voters in the 2025 state Supreme Court race.
Musk and America PAC spent a combined $22 million to support a Republican candidate for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. How did it work out for Musk, who claimed that "the future of America and Western civilization" was at stake in the election?
The Democratic nominee won that race by 10 percentage points. And Wisconsin voters were not so welcoming to Musk.
Blueprint, a public opinion polling firm that supports Democrats, surveyed 747 Wisconsin voters in the two days after the 2025 election: 70% opposed Musk's $1 million checks for voters, 65% disapproved of Musk getting involved in the election, and 63% disapproved of him spending more than $20 million to influence the vote.
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No wonder that Musk, just weeks after that election, said this: “In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future."
So much for that.
But remember, this is the same guy who broke up with Trump in a melodramatic fit last summer, implying that the president he helped to elect should be impeached and vowing to start a new political party to “fight the Republican/Democrat Uniparty."
Trump, predictably, responded by threatening in a June 5, 2025, social media post "to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts."
Musk, predictably, backed down from his fight with Trump just days after that threat, suggesting his criticisms "went too far."
And now Trump and Musk are political allies again.
Musk is preparing to spend millions of dollars in the midterms to help avoid a Democratic takeover of Congress that would bring oversight to Trump's lawless administration. And Trump's administration is spending $1.6 billion of our tax dollars on a contract that bolsters Musk's SpaceX stock.
Context kills the concept of political coincidences. That's why I don't believe in them.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on Bluesky, @bychrisbrennan.bsky.social, and on X, @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Musk funds GOP midterms after SpaceX contract. Coincidence? | Opinion