By Trisha Thadani, Clara Ence Morse and Maeve Reston – Washington Post Feb 1, 2025

Billionaire Elon Musk spent at least $288 million to help elect President Donald Trump and other Republican candidates, according to a Washington Post analysis of new Federal Election Commission filings that offered an end-of-year snapshot of what was spent during the 2024 election cycle.

Friday’s FEC filings cement Musk’s status as the biggest political donor of the recent presidential cycle at a moment when he has amassed an extraordinary amount of power as a member of Trump’s inner circle — and as he is decried by critics as a de facto, unelected co-president. He is also a driving force behind the effort to shrink the federal workforce, helping to engineer a controversial offer this week to hundreds of thousands of career civil servants to quit their jobs and get paid through September.

The staggering 2024 political spending by Musk and the extent of his influence over Trump, as well as the levers of the federal government, cap a remarkable transformation for the richest man in the world, who had only dabbled in politics before being welcomed into Trump’s inner orbit last year.

After the election, the then-president-elect tapped Musk to lead the newly formed “Department of Government Efficiency,” which he tasked with cutting federal spending and regulation. The loosely defined role could give Musk the ability to influence policy and spending decisions that directly impact his companies, such as Tesla and SpaceX.

Musk helped form America PAC last year to support Trump in part by targeting lower-propensity voters with an expansive canvassing operation across key swing states. Because of an obscure FEC ruling in March that relaxed some of the rules for contact between campaigns and super PACs, America PAC and other outside groups were able to closely coordinate their messaging and plans for canvassing with Trump’s top campaign lieutenants.

Ultimately, America PAC became one of the most prominent get-out-the-vote efforts for the Republican candidate, raising $263 million. The group was seeded with donations not just from the SpaceX CEO but also many of his close allies, including Tesla board member Antonio Gracias, Palantir co-founder and Austin-based tech investor Joe Lonsdale, and Sequoia Capital investor Shaun Maguire.

In the report filed Friday covering the period from Nov. 26 to the last day of December, Musk reported making an $11.2 million in-kind contribution on Dec. 31 to America PAC for what was described as “petition incentives.”

In late October, Musk said he would hand out $1 million daily in a lottery for registered swing-state voters who signed a petition as part of his super PAC’s voter recruitment drive. He said at the time that America PAC would give away “$1M to someone in swing states who signed our petition to support free speech & the right to bear arms.”

An earlier FEC filing showed that Musk made an in-kind contribution of nearly $40.5 million for petition incentives on Nov. 25 — meaning that he spent at least $51.7 million on payments for petition signatories last year. The payments were processed through a company known as United States of America Inc.

The program was limited to registered voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina. Those who signed the petition were encouraged to refer the form to other swing-state voters. Individuals could receive $47 for each valid referral to a registered voter in a swing state, and the incentives were higher in certain states such as Pennsylvania.

Democrats immediately questioned the legality of the move. Legal experts pointed out that federal law prohibits paying Americans to register to vote. And former GOP lawmakers and Justice Department officials wrote a letter to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and Pennsylvania state officials asking them to review the legality of the group’s payments.

Musk has said America PAC is “going to aim to weigh in heavily” on the 2026 congressional midterm elections. He also has said he plans to get involved in local races against liberal district attorneys. Like Trump, he has argued that some of those officeholders are too lenient on crime and directly responsible for theft and other quality-of-life issues in cities across the country.

The billionaire’s investment in the 2024 election has already paid off enormously, as his personal wealth has soared since Trump’s victory in November. Musk’s wealth is largely tied up in Tesla stock, which has seen massive gains in value since the election. Investors and analysts expect the electric vehicle company will benefit significantly from streamlined regulation on autonomous driving during the new administration.

Source