At Donald Trump events and in swing states, Elon Musk is getting people excited. He is also praising the Republican presidential candidate to his 200 million X followers.
Now, the richest person in the world is giving Trump really big campaign checks.
On Thursday night, federal election records were made public that show the CEO of Tesla TSLA 2.02% gave an additional $43.6 million to the America PAC campaign, which is helping Trump win the White House. So far this year, Musk has given just over $118 million to the super PAC. This makes him one of the biggest donors to the 2024 election cycle.
Musk’s sudden jump into the race has caused a lot of trouble. His America PAC announced on Saturday that people who signed a petition in support of free speech and the right to bear guns would have the chance to win $1 million every day. On Wednesday, the lottery stopped because the Justice Department was said to have told the Musk group that the funds might be against federal election law.
Where did the rest of the money go? Individuals can give as much as they want to the super PAC, according to federal records. The group has already spent $80 million on programs that help people canvass in swing states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The race is very close, according to polls. The Kamala Harris campaign has raised more money and spent more on ads and getting people to vote than the former president’s campaign. In the third quarter, Harris’s campaign groups raised $1 billion, with $221 million coming in in September. Trump’s team raised $62 million in the same month.
Big donors from business and banking have become more important to Trump. The Mellon business heir Timothy Mellon was the biggest supporter of the Republicans up until this week. OpenSecrets’s trackers of campaign money say that Mellon has given more than $165 million.
Jeffery Yass, founder of the quant trading company Susquehanna International, gave the Republicans $80 million. Ken Griffin, CEO of the Wall Street firm Citadel, gave them $75 million, and Paul Singer, CEO of the hedge fund Elliott Management, gave them $46 million.
There have also been big checks for Democrats. Michael Bloomberg, who used to be mayor of New York, has given more than $41 million to the Democrats this election term. Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, has given more than $30 million. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft MSFT 0.84%, told the New York Times this week that he has given Harris $50 million.
Elon Musk has done more than just write checks, though. His group of business leaders is meeting in Pennsylvania to come up with ideas for the campaign’s ground game. He tells his followers that Trump will free his businesses and other businesses from the rules that Democratic governments put in place that make them hard to run. Mr. Trump has even said that he would hire Elon Musk and give him the job of cutting down on waste in the government.
Musk said in a tweet last Friday, “America will fall to tyranny unless Trump is elected.” “Trump has to win.”
