Elon Musk’s 2026 election spending and SpaceX, Tesla business interests

Elon Musk’s business empire is tying itself ever closer to the federal government just as he spends record sums to help decide who controls it in the 2026 midterm election.

SpaceX has racked up at least $6.78 billion in federal work so far through Oct. 1 this year, according to FedScout, a research firm that tracks government spending and contracts, nearly twice its total for all of 2024. Tesla, SpaceX, including Musk’s artificial intelligence business, also face high-stakes government decisions over defense spending, launch licenses, spectrum, autonomous vehicles, electricity and data centers.

At the same time, Musk has committed roughly $366 million to the 2026 election cycle across at least 40 races, making the world’s richest person the midterms’ biggest individual donor so far. 

At least $276 million of that money has flowed to Republican groups and Musk’s own political operation, America PAC, since July, according to a CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission filings, as Republican candidates have faced attacks on the cost of living and the war in Iran.

For Musk, Republican victories could help preserve his influence and a favorable political environment for his companies. Democratic control of either chamber could instead bring subpoenas and investigations into his businesses, federal contracts and his work leading President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Democrats are favored to win control of the House, while the battle for the Senate remains a toss-up.

“With all that spending, [Musk] wants favors in Congress and from the administration and influence on regulatory contracts as well as being shielded from oversight,” said Bruce Freed, president and co-founder of the nonpartisan Center for Political Accountability and a former chief investigator for the Senate banking committee.

Musk did not respond to CNBC’s request for a comment on this story. However, he lashed out at the possibility of Democrat-led investigations in a Wednesday post on X, which he owns, saying: “Live by the sword, die by the sword.”

“Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets,” he wrote.

Nowhere is the overlap between Musk’s business interests and political spending clearer than in his home state of Texas.

Tesla is headquartered in Austin, where it operates its largest U.S. vehicle factory. SpaceX operates a launch facility at its company town, Starbase, in South Texas. Musk’s tunneling venture, The Boring Co., is based in Pflugerville.

That gives Texas officials sway over taxes, electricity, permitting, infrastructure and economic-development incentives that can carry enormous consequences for Musk’s companies.

At least $189.6 million of his political money is targeted to help elect Republican Ken Paxton through various avenues, prompting his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, to accuse Musk of trying to “buy this Senate seat in Texas.”

Musk went after Talarico on Wednesday, saying on X that “There is something deeply wrong” with the Democrat.

“There is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal U.S. Senator,” Talarico responded.

Musk is spending at the state level, too. According to the nonpartisan Transparency USA, which tracks money in state politics, Musk and his trust have given at least $6 million this cycle to state candidates and political groups, including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows.

The Musk-Abbott connection also extends to personnel: Tesla policy chief Karen Steakley previously served as Abbott’s deputy director for legislative affairs.

Tesla and SpaceX are also planning to build a sprawling AI chip factory with Intel outside of Austin in Grimes County, Texas, where longtime Musk lawyer and America PAC attorney Chris Gober is running for Congress.

For SpaceX, the federal government is one of its most important customers.

Since 2008, the company has received more than $30.7 billion in federal work, according to FedScout. The figure excludes classified contracts and some state-funded spending on services such as Starlink terminals and satellite internet service, which states have used during disaster recovery.

That federal business has accelerated during Trump’s second administration, FedScout found. SpaceX has racked up $6.78 billion in 2026 so far, compared with $3.97 billion in 2025 and $3.8 billion for all of 2024.

In late May alone, the Space Force awarded SpaceX $2.29 billion for a military communications network tied to the “Golden Dome” missile shield and, three days later, another $4.16 billion for threat-detection satellites.

Congress does not award those contracts, but it funds and oversees the agencies that do, including the Defense Department and NASA, each a major SpaceX customer.

“Keeping allies in committee powers in Washington helps [Musk] wield power in the halls of Congress better,” said Hilary Braseth, executive director of OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan research group that tracks money in politics.

Musk’s America PAC is backing Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which helps write funding bills for NASA and the Pentagon.

Collins’ Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, has accused Musk of trying to “buy a government that serves his interests.”

Musk has already learned how quickly that kind of political influence can evaporate.

After spending nearly $300 million to help elect Trump and congressional Republicans in 2024, Musk gained extraordinary access to the administration. He led DOGE’s push to slash the federal workforce and pressed for deregulation on several fronts.

Then the relationship blew up. A June 2025 feud over Trump’s tax-and-spending bill escalated into threats from the president to cut government support and contracts for Musk’s companies.

Now Musk is back in Trump’s orbit. In recent weeks, he has attended Trump’s state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping, sat beside the president at his AI summit and received the National Medal of Science. On Sept. 30, the DOD appointed Musk to co-lead Project Meridian, advising the Pentagon on future warfare.

Musk’s political spending extends well beyond the states where his business empire is concentrated.

Across six other battleground states, America PAC had spent about $22.7 million on general election expenditures through Oct. 20, according to a CNBC analysis of FEC filings, including roughly $8.9 million in Ohio, $7.2 million in Michigan and $2 million in Maine.

In Michigan, America PAC is paying for digital ads, mailers, printing and postage, and text and phone outreach supporting Republican Mike Rogers and attacking Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, according to FEC filings. 

Rogers backs a one-year moratorium on new data centers; El-Sayed wants to pause advanced AI development and new data centers until tougher federal safeguards are in place.

In Ohio, America PAC is funding ads, text and phone outreach among other measures helping Republican Jon Husted against Democrat Sherrod Brown, according to FEC filings. Husted wants large data centers to shoulder more grid costs; Brown has attacked industry tax breaks and pledged to make data centers pay their full electricity costs.

Those debates matter more as Musk pushes deeper into AI.

SpaceX’s AI division, formerly known as xAI, was awarded a Pentagon contract last July with a $200 million ceiling, while a General Services Administration agreement makes the company’s Grok chatbot available across federal agencies through March 2027.

Musk’s companies also depend on a web of federal regulators whose decisions can directly affect their ability to expand.

The Federal Aviation Administration licenses SpaceX launches, while the Federal Communications Commission controls satellite licenses and spectrum used by Starlink. Congress funds and oversees both agencies, and the Senate confirms FCC commissioners.

Tesla has its own stakes in Washington, where Congress and federal agencies can reshape electric-vehicle tax breaks, battery subsidies, autonomous-vehicle rules and trade policy affecting Chinese competitors.

Musk’s companies are spending directly on those fights, too.

Since January 2025, SpaceX has spent about $5.3 million lobbying on issues including NASA funding, defense spending, military launches, missile defense and procurement, while Tesla has spent about $3.6 million lobbying Washington, according to disclosure reports.

“Elon’s spending is virtually unprecedented in recent elections for its scale in such a short period for one individual donor,” Freed told CNBC. “He seems to be spending with basically no budget, and he got the money to do so.”