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

Elon Musk’s business empire is increasingly tied to the federal government, just as he is spending record amounts to decide who will govern in the 2026 midterm elections.

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

At the same time, Musk has contributed about $366 million to at least 40 campaigns in the 2026 election cycle, making the world’s richest person the largest individual donor in a midterm election so far.

Since July, at least $276 million of that money has gone to Republican groups and Musk’s own political action group, America PAC, as Republican candidates have been hurt by the cost of living and the Iran war, according to a CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.

For Musk, a Republican victory could help maintain his influence and a favorable political environment for his company. If Democrats control either chamber, they could instead face subpoenas and investigations into his businesses, federal contracts and his work leading President Donald Trump’s Office of Government Efficiency.

While Democrats have the advantage of having a majority in the House of Representatives, the battle in the Senate remains a crowded one.

“By spending this much, (Musk) hopes to gain favor with Congress and the administration, and not just protection from oversight but influence over regulatory contracts,” said Bruce Fried, president and co-founder of the Political Accountability Center and former chief investigator on the Senate Banking Committee.

Musk did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment on this story. But in a post Wednesday about his company X, he slammed the possibility of a Democratic-led investigation, saying he would “live by the sword and die by the sword.”

“For those who pick a fight with me, please understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just the puppets,” he wrote.

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

Tesla is headquartered in Austin and operates the largest car factory in the United States. SpaceX operates a launch facility at its urban Starbase in South Texas. Musk’s tunneling business, The Boring Company, is based in Pflugerville.

That leaves Texas officials in turmoil over tax, power, permitting, infrastructure and economic development incentives, which could have a huge impact on Musk’s companies.

At least $189.6 million of Musk’s political funds were used to help elect Republican Ken Paxton through various means, and his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, has accused Musk of trying to “buy the Texas Senate seat.”

Musk went after Talarico on Wednesday, saying on the X show that there is “something seriously wrong” with Democrats.

“There’s something deeply flawed in our political system that allows a trillionaire to buy a private U.S. Senate seat,” Talarico responded.

Mr. Musk is also spending at the state level. He and his trust have donated at least $6 million this term to state candidates and political groups, including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows.

The relationship between Mr. Musk and Mr. Abbott extends to human resources as well. Tesla policy chief Karen Steakley previously served as Abbott’s deputy director for legislative affairs.

Tesla and SpaceX also plan to work with Intel to build a vast AI chip factory outside Austin in Grimes County, Texas, where Musk’s longtime lawyer and US PAC attorney Chris Gober is running for Congress.

The federal government is one of SpaceX’s most important customers.

The company has received more than $30.7 billion in federal work since 2008, according to FedScout. That number does not include confidential contracts or some state-funded spending for services such as Starlink terminals and satellite internet service that the state used during disaster recovery.

Federal business operations accelerated under Trump’s second administration, a FedScout study found. SpaceX has so far collected $6.78 billion in 2026, $3.97 billion in 2025, and $3.8 billion in 2024 as a whole.

In late May alone, the Space Force awarded SpaceX $2.29 billion for a military communications network in conjunction with Golden Dome, and three days later awarded another $4.16 billion for threat detection satellites.

Congress does not award these contracts, but it does fund and oversee the agencies that do, including SpaceX’s major customers, the Department of Defense and NASA.

“Keeping the committee’s power in Washington with allies will allow (Musk) to better wield power in Congress,” said Hilary Blaseth, executive director of OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan research group that tracks political money.

Mr. Musk’s America PAC supports Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which helps write funding legislation for SpaceX’s biggest government customers, NASA and the Department of Defense.

Mr. Collins’ Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, accused Mr. Musk of trying to “buy the government to suit his own interests.”

Mr. Musk already knows how quickly that kind of political influence can evaporate.

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

Then the relationship exploded. The June 2025 feud over President Trump’s tax and spending bill escalated into the president’s threat to terminate government aid and contracts for Musk’s companies.

Now, Musk is back in Trump’s orbit. In recent weeks, he has attended state dinners with President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, sat next to the president at an AI summit, and received the National Medal of Science. On September 30, the Pentagon named Musk co-director of Project Meridian, which advises the Pentagon on future wars.

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

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

In Michigan, America PAC paid for digital ads, mailers, print and mail, and text and phone calls to support Republican Mike Rogers and attack Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, according to FEC filings.

Rogers supports a one-year moratorium on new data centers. El-Sayed wants to pause advanced AI development and new data centers until stricter federal safety measures are put in place.

In Ohio, America PAC is funding ads, text messages and phone calls, among other initiatives, to support the race between Republican Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown, according to FEC filings. Husted wants large data centers to shoulder more of the grid costs. Mr. Brown attacked tax breaks for the industry and promised to make data centers pay for their entire electricity bill.

These discussions will become more important as Mr. Musk moves deeper into AI.

SpaceX’s AI division, formerly known as xAI, won a contract worth up to $200 million with the Department of Defense last July, while a General Services Administration contract makes the company’s Grok chatbot available across federal agencies through March 2027.

Mr. Musk’s companies also rely on a web of federal regulators, whose decisions could directly impact their ability to expand.

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

Tesla holds its own stake in Washington, allowing Congress and federal agencies to reshape electric vehicle tax breaks, battery subsidies, self-driving car regulations and trade policies that affect Chinese competitors.

Mr. Musk’s company is also spending directly on these fights.

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.

“Mr. Elon’s spending is virtually unprecedented in recent elections for such a short amount of time for a single individual donor,” Fried told CNBC. “It’s like he’s basically going without a budget, but he got the money to do it.”