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…