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Musk gave another $43.5M to pro-Trump PAC, but Harris leads cash race

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks at a town hall with Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Dave McCormick at the Roxain Theater on Oct. 20 in Pittsburgh, Pa. (Michael Swensen)
By Clara Ence Morse and Maegan Vazquez Washington Post

Elon Musk gave $43.5 million to America PAC, a political action committee supporting Donald Trump, in early October – a massive sum that will help offset the fundraising gap between the Republican presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The world’s richest man, who publicly endorsed Trump in July after a gunman opened fire at one of the former president’s rallies, has given at least $118.5 million to America PAC since July. But Harris’ money machine continues to run at full speed. Harris’ campaign and allied committees reported raising $189 million in the first 16 days of October, significantly more than Trump’s haul of $107 million, bolstering her existing financial advantage in the weeks before Election Day.

America PAC, which launched this spring and is now mostly funded by Musk, is a significant player in Trump’s re-election bid. The Trump campaign has taken the unusual and risky step of outsourcing much of its get-out-the-vote efforts to outside groups, and America PAC has been a key part of that plan. But the outside spending could help Trump remain competitive in the fundraising race against Harris, who saw donations spike after she announced her campaign for president.

Harris’ fundraising advantage is no guarantee of victory next month. In 2016, Trump won the election even though Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her allies outraised his campaign and its allies 2 to 1. And although both campaigns and their allies are sure to raise and spend millions more before Election Day, the public won’t know the details until after all the votes are cast. The latest tranche of campaign finance filings released Thursday are the last full accounting expected before polls close on Nov. 5.

Harris had entered October, the final full month of the presidential election campaign, with an enormous financial advantage over Trump. Her campaign and its allied committees raised more than $1 billion in the third quarter, allowing her to significantly outspend the former president’s campaign on television and digital ads, voter contact efforts and staff members. She maintained that advantage in the latest filings, entering the final weeks of the campaign with $270 million on hand, above Trump’s total of $222 million.

The 2024 cash race is tighter in the House. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee borrowed $10 million and spent $35 million in the first half of October. After the loan, the DCCC ended the month with as much cash on hand as its Republican counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, which outraised it in the first half of the month.

Along with his contributions to America PAC, Musk also gave $10 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which aims to elect a Republican majority to the U.S. Senate.

The data also showed that the Senate Leadership Fund raised $5 million from hedge fund manager Paul Singer and $2 million each from businessman Warren Stephens and investment analyst Ken Fisher. Patrick Ryan, an insurance businessman, and his wife, philanthropist Shirley Ryan, gave $4.5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, which aims to elect Republicans to the U.S. House, the latest filings showed.

Businesswoman Diane Hendricks gave $5 million to Turnout for America, a super PAC aimed at mobilizing voters in battleground states in support of Trump’s campaign. And venture capitalist Marc Andreessen made a $2 million contribution to the pro-Trump Right For America super PAC.

Save America, the leadership PAC Trump has used to pay his legal bills and those of some of his associates, received transfers amounting to $8.1 million from Trump’s joint fundraising committees. The PAC paid nearly $4 million in legal bills and still owes about $1.8 million to lawyers.

Future Forward, a Democratic PAC that has dominated outside spending on ads in support of Harris this cycle, raised $89 million between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz donated $25 million to the super PAC, the latest filings show. Future Forward’s affiliated nonprofit organization, which is not required to disclose its donors, transferred $40 million to the super PAC.

Jan Koum, the co-founder of WhatsApp, gave the Make America Great Again Inc. super PAC $5 million in Meta stock.