Elon is back to buying elections

On Monday, July 20, 2026, the richest and most powerful man alive sat just feet away from Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist’s editor-in-chief. With a microphone positioned in front of him and Teslas parked directly behind him, a combative Elon Musk spoke for nearly an hour and a half inside Tesla’s Gigafactory. During the interview, he insisted he was “not a racist,” while at the same time refusing to say he was not anti-Muslim. He claimed that “the media is despised” even more than people hate him. But of everything he said that day, one comment stood out above all the rest.

“I think I got a little too involved in politics. I got carried away, frankly.”

He was referring specifically to his role in running DOGE and his broader political involvement, yet he offered very few specifics about exactly what he regretted. Today, a week after the interview aired, Elon Musk decided not only to get back involved in politics, but to authorize up to $120 million in new spending to help Republicans win the 2026 midterm elections.

Last year, as his relationship with Trump began to unravel and his companies faced growing consumer backlash, Musk spoke at the Qatar Economic Forum on May 20, 2025, and told Bloomberg: “I think in terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future. I think I’ve done enough.” When questioned further on whether the backlash against his companies played a role, he added, “Well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I don’t currently see a reason.”

Here we are, just 96 days before the midterm elections, and we learned this week that Elon Musk’s America PAC plans to spend up to $120 million across eight battleground states. After saying he’d gotten “carried away” with politics, he isn’t stepping back. He’s diving back in.

And that is what we have seen from Elon Musk over and over again. This pattern is what makes him so dangerous. On the 2024 election night celebrating the victory that he bankrolled, Musk said on X, “America PAC is going to keep going after this election, and preparing for the midterms and any intermediate elections, as well as looking at elections at the district attorney and sort of judicial levels.” Then came the falling out with Trump. The public feuding, his threats to start a third party, the accusations about Trump and Epstein, and finally the dramatic declarations that he was done with politics. It didn’t take long for them to reconcile and for Elon’s money to start flowing again back to Trump and the Republican Party.

As much as Musk would like us to believe this is just about patriotism or saving the country from what he calls “the radical left,” to him it’s about much more than that. On New Year’s Day of this year, a conservative influencer posted on X that Musk was “going all-in funding Republicans to help President Trump take back full control in the November midterms.” Musk reshared the post, and added his own thoughts: “America is toast if the radical left wins,” he wrote. “They will open the floodgates to illegal immigration and fraud. Won’t be America anymore.”

But for Musk, it also has to do with survival. In October 2024, during an interview with Tucker Carlson, Musk was asked what would happen to him if Trump lost the election. His answer shows the real reason for his big spending patterns: “If he loses, I’m f---ed,” he said. “How long do you think my prison sentence is going to be? Will I see my children? I don’t know.” He acknowledged that he had “no plausible deniability” after spending so much on Trump’s election and for doing it so publicly.

During the 2024 presidential race, Musk’s America PAC offered registered voters in seven swing states, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, a chance at a random one-million-dollar daily prize if they signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments. They also paid smaller amounts, forty-seven dollars and one hundred dollars, to voters who signed or recruited others. To be eligible, you had to be a registered voter and hand over personal identifying information. The Department of Justice warned Musk’s PAC that the giveaway could violate federal laws against paying people in connection with voter registration. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued, calling the program “a grift” and “political marketing masquerading as a lottery.” When America PAC’s own attorneys argued in court that the million-dollar recipients were not chosen by chance but were effectively hired as paid spokespeople, the city’s attorney responded that if that were true, it was “one of the great scams of the last fifty years.” A judge allowed the payments to continue through Election Day, but never ruled on the merits.

In April 2025, during the very competitive Wisconsin Supreme Court race, Elon tried again, paying one million dollars to two voters who signed his “Petition in Opposition to Activist Judges.” The Wisconsin elections board found probable cause that he may have violated the state’s election bribery statute. That case is still pending. And on the federal level, a class action lawsuit, McAferty v. Musk, is working its way through the courts. No federal criminal charges have been brought, and the Federal Election Commission has not acted. And Elon Musk appears to be doing it all again.

The PAC has big plans for this money. According to reporting by the New York Times, America PAC plans to initially target Senate races in five states: Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, and Ohio. They may also include North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas. The PAC is also planning to spend on House races in California, Wisconsin, and Washington. They are not just blindly using the money. They have a plan. They will be funding ground operations with door-knocking, online ads, and direct mail, all aimed at one specific group: conservative base voters who typically do not show up for midterm elections. In 2024, America PAC knocked on more than ten million doors. They recognize how important voter turnout will be, so they are going all in. It is being led by Chris Young, Musk’s top political adviser, who also worked on DOGE. Trump’s senior political adviser, James Blair, told Axios that America PAC was “an essential partner” in 2024 and its return is “a huge boost,” adding, “We will again outsmart our opponents and ruthlessly execute our mission for the GOP between now and Election Day.”

The amount of money already earmarked for this election is staggering. Even before Musk’s check, Republican super PACs already held a roughly $300 million advantage over their Democratic counterparts, and Trump’s own MAGA Inc. super PAC has another $400 million.

This type of buying elections is not new to our country. History does not necessarily repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme. In the decades before the 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913, United States senators were not elected by the people. They were chosen by state legislatures, and that system was drowning in corruption. The robber barons of the Gilded Age, men like John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan, did not need to persuade voters. They just needed to purchase legislators. Senate seats were openly bought and sold, and entire state governments were controlled by industrial money. The public had no direct say in who represented them in the upper chamber of their own government, and the wealthy used that to entrench their power so deeply that it took a constitutional amendment to break it. We fought that fight once before. The American people looked at a system that had been captured by the richest men in the country and said, this is ours, not yours. And they changed the Constitution to take it back. That amendment exists because our ancestors understood something that is just as true today: when enough money enters a political system without accountability, it stops being a democracy and starts being an auction. And right now, Donald Trump is auctioning off our government, and Elon Musk is bidding to buy it.

If you feel like you are the only one who sees what is happening, a Gallup poll released today surveyed more than 23,000 adults between April and June of this year and found that 78 percent of Americans are worried about wealthy people or organizations making large, anonymous political donations. sixty-seven percent of Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, fear that politicians will pressure election officials to change the outcomes of races. Eighty percent are concerned that political leaders will take actions they know may possibly be illegal. And 40 percent, four in ten Americans, say they are afraid of being confronted, followed, or recorded while voting. People are afraid to vote in the United States of America in the year 2026.

But here is what Elon Musk and his paid operation forgot. More Americans are realizing what is happening, and they are not okay with being bought. They are stepping up and donating their own money. It might not be millions, but it all adds up.

In April 2025, Musk poured money into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, backing the conservative candidate, and the conservative lost. Musk’s involvement became a political liability for the very candidate he was trying to help. Democrats used his presence against the Republican, and it worked. The Wisconsin Democratic Party chair said, “When Elon Musk comes to town, Republicans should flee in panic.” His name has become toxic.

Maybe his latest cash infusion will backfire again, because this time his name is even more unpopular now than it was then. But we cannot plan around his failure. We cannot sit back and assume the money will not work. We have to plan as if every dollar converts those who planned to sit out the election into active voters and make sure we are doing enough to overcome it.

Because if and when Musk costs the Republicans another election, this will teach an important lesson to those still standing with Trump and generations to come. Not just for Musk, but for everyone watching from the wings. Because he is not the only rich person with this kind of money and this kind of ambition. There are others waiting to see if this model succeeds.

It tells Elon Musk, and everyone like him, that our elections are not for sale. It tells them that our democratic republic, as much as it has faltered, pulled thin and trampled on, still belongs to us. We the people still control this country and our elections. And no fortune on earth is big enough to take that from us.

And it sends one more message, this one straight to the president, Donald Trump. It tells him that his enablers cannot save him. That all the money in the world cannot protect him from the will of the American people when we decide to use it. They might have gotten away with it this time, at least for now, when they helped him buy his way back into power in 2024. But we are wiser now, and we are not making the same mistake again.

We are ninety-six days away from the most pivotal election of our lifetimes. The House is already on August recess, and the Senate will follow shortly. When they come back, they are staring straight at a government funding deadline and the final countdown to November. The walls are closing in for Republicans, and they know it.

Elon Musk has more money than any of us will ever see. But he does not have what we have. He does not have conviction that lasts longer than his impulses. He forgets that there are millions of Americans who show up not because they were paid, but because they refuse to let this country be sold. He does not have the kind of stubborn, relentless, unshakable commitment that has kept this movement alive through every attack, setback, and every attempt to silence us. We do. We love our country, and no amount of money could change that. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: Just a cute puppy picture today. She was so happy to have her favorite human back and on the mend after surgery. (Thank you for all the well wishes; my daughter is doing well!)

Sources:

The full-length interview with Elon Musk | The Economist

Gallup: Election Concerns Run High Ahead of 2026 Midterms

New York Times: Musk Plans at Least $100 Million in Midterm Spending

Axios: Musk Plans Massive Spending for Republicans

Forbes: Musk Spending Up to $120 Million After Saying He Got Too Involved in Politics

NBC News: Musk Says He Will Do a Lot Less Political Spending

CBS News: Musk May Have Broken Election Law With $1 Million Voter Checks

LegalClarity: Musk Faces Election Lottery Lawsuit Over $1 Million Giveaway

CBS News Philadelphia: Musk PAC Lawsuit and $1 Million Voter Sweepstakes

Washington Examiner: Musk PAC to Spend Big in Midterm Elections