Elon Musk has put more than $276 million into Republican groups and his own super PAC since the start of July 2026, making him by far the largest known donor of the 2026 midterm elections. The New York Times reported the figure on October 12th, 2026, and it was carried the same day by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

That quarterly number sits inside a larger one. Roughly $366 million is the known federal political giving by Musk since the 2025 to 2026 cycle began on January 1st, 2025, a total his representatives supplied to the New York Times and that Lindsey Curnutte, a spokesperson for Musk's America PAC, confirmed to CNBC on Monday, October 12th, 2026.

What happened

The two headline figures do not conflict. The $276 million covers the July to September 2026 quarter, and the $366 million is the cycle to date, a pairing reported identically by CNBC, Reuters, The Hill, Forbes and the Jerusalem Post. Forbes described the $366 million as covering spending through the end of September.

The numbers did not come out of a public filing. The New York Times reported that Musk supplied the previously unreported figures to the paper ahead of a federal campaign finance filing deadline on Thursday, and CNBC, Reuters and The Hill each attribute the breakdown to an America PAC spokesman rather than to a filed FEC document. The New York Times also reported that Musk has given further money through groups that do not disclose their donors, so the full total is not publicly knowable.

Where the money went

The biggest single item is $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC backing Republican Senate candidates and aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune. CNBC called it among the largest known political donations by an individual in US history, and the New York Times reported it is the most that group has received from one donor in a single quarter.

Reuters reported the rest of the quarter as confirmed by the America PAC spokesman: more than $76 million to America PAC, $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund (the House Republican super PAC aligned with Speaker Mike Johnson), $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC backing Texas Senate nominee Ken Paxton, $10 million to the Republican Governors Association and $2 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association.

Investing.com, summarising the New York Times account, reported that roughly $90 million of the cycle total paid for work done in the prior election or for other causes, including an unsuccessful Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate and a programme that paid $1 million to registered voters who signed a petition backing free speech and gun rights.

What the Tesla record shows

On TSLA, our record has nothing to add here, and that is the point worth stating plainly. No outlet reported that any Tesla corporate funds were involved. The money is described throughout as Musk's personal giving, and this is not an insider share transaction, so there is no Form 4 behind it and no share count to read.

CNBC did note the context around the spending: the record sums come as Musk rebuilds his relationship with President Donald Trump and as he holds business ties to the federal government. Outlets identify him as chief executive of both Tesla and SpaceX, and the Associated Press, in a story by Jill Colvin published October 12th, 2026, described him as the world's only trillionaire.

What to watch

The target is the November 3rd, 2026 midterms. America PAC is supporting Republican candidates in seven battleground states and nearly three dozen House races, at a time when Reuters reports Democrats' chances of retaking the House and the Senate have improved.

The spending has already passed the roughly $290 million Musk spent during the 2024 election cycle, despite his statement last year that he planned to spend a lot less on politics, CNBC reported. Forbes reported the totals make him the biggest midterm donor, surpassing Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, whom the New York Times had ranked as the biggest midterm spenders in August 2026. America PAC spokesman Andrew Romeo defended the outlay in a statement to the New York Times that The Hill confirmed, saying the investments let the GOP get its message out and have a fighting chance to defy history in November.

Reporting from CNBC, The New York Times (syndicated by The Philadelphia Inquirer), Reuters, The Hill, the Associated Press, Forbes and Investing.com, all published October 12th, 2026.

Informational only, not investment advice.