Elon Musk Donates $5M to Texas Governor Greg Abbott
Elon Musk donates $5 million to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s campaign ahead of midterms.
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Elon Musk donated $5 million to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign days before the midterm elections, according to Politico. The donation, part of a broader spending spree by Musk, who has allocated over $445 million to Republican groups and his super PAC since July, makes him the largest known donor in the midterms.
Abbott received $26 million in a 30-day reporting period that ended Oct. 24, with at least $6 million coming from Musk and other tech and data center donors. Musk primarily targeted the Texas Senate race, allocating over a third of his spending to support Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign.
Musk’s business interests in Texas, including Tesla and X, both headquartered in the state, likely influenced his donations. He previously gave $500,000 to Abbott’s campaign, and his companies rely on data centers. SpaceX operates a rocket facility on the Gulf Coast, while Tesla has a major auto plant in Austin.
NEW — Elon Musk donated $5 million last month to boost Greg Abbott’s reelection campaign, per new filing. Musk is now up to $475 million in disclosed political giving this cycle. https://t.co/JlpazeB34q
Abbott also received $200,000 from Anthropic’s employee PAC and $300,000 from co-founder Tom Brown. He took $250,000 each from Dallas businessmen Harlan Crow and Ray Hunt, who are involved in data center development.
Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, collected $17.5 million during the 30-day period, including millions from unions and $1 million from Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. She attempted to link Abbott to the tech industry and Musk throughout her campaign.
Hinojosa also received a $150,000 contribution from OpenAI investor Jessica Livingston. Abbott, meanwhile, pledged to make Texas the “epicenter” of artificial intelligence development, and his staff met with tech companies and electricity officials two days before the state’s grid operator announced a framework for new data centers.
Abbott temporarily halted permits for new data center projects, which Hinojosa claimed was a politically motivated move. A poll by The Texas Politics Project found that 57% of registered voters oppose data center construction.
Abbott led Hinojosa by an average of three points, according to RealClearPolling. He won his 2022 gubernatorial race by a 54.8% to 43.8% margin against former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
Source: Daily Caller
