Elon Musk has deleted social media posts urging voters to support Republican candidates in the US midterm elections, after Democrats made significant gains and secured control of both chambers of Congress.The removed posts included a pinned October 29 message calling on voters to elect Republican senators and an Election Day appeal stating “Vote red today!”. According to Forbes, Musk took down the pinned post early Wednesday, around the time Democrat James Talarico claimed victory in the Texas Senate race.The news agency Associated Press called the Texas contest for Talarico shortly after 11 pm EST on Tuesday, confirming the defeat of Republican Ken Paxton, who had received substantial financial backing from Musk.Musk’s chatbot Grok also confirmed the deletion after an X user asked whether he was removing posts related to the election. “True,” Grok replied late Wednesday morning, saying Musk had deleted the “Vote red today!” message after the results showed “major Republican losses”.The Election Day appeal was among Musk’s few direct interventions on the platform urging support for Republicans.It had appeared alongside posts promoting Grok and a message featuring a raised-eyebrow emoji in response to Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who also won his Senate race.
Musk jokes about election losses, comments on voter ID
Musk was more active on X on Wednesday morning, sharing several posts analysing the election results and making sarcastic remarks about the Republican defeats.“Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time 🤷♂️,” he wrote in one post, shortly after saying, “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”He also responded to a post claiming that voters had agreed with Republicans on every policy issue but had still voted Democrat, writing: “Voter ID failed in California.”The remark referred to the defeat of a California ballot measure that would have required voters to show government-issued photo identification when casting ballots in person or provide identification numbers when voting by mail.Musk subsequently returned to posting about his technology ventures, including Starlink and Grok, according to The Daily Beast and Futurism.
Musk spent hundreds of millions backing Republicans
Musk was among the biggest financial backers of Republican candidates and aligned political causes during the midterm election cycle.He channelled at least $458 million into Republican-aligned causes, making him the largest individual donor in modern US political history during the election cycle.Federal Election Commission filings and other reporting cited by the publication showed that a significant portion, around $216 million, went directly to his super PAC, America PAC.The organisation financed voter turnout operations, ground-level campaigning and targeted digital advertising. Musk increased his spending during the second half of the election cycle, seeking to help Republicans retain control of Congress.His contributions went heavily towards the Texas Senate contest, the Senate Leadership Fund and key House battlegrounds in New York, New Jersey and Iowa.According to Federal Election Commission data, Musk’s spending through super PACs and other individual contributions stood around $474 million. The New York Times estimated that he spent approximately $224 million in Texas alone.106 House and Senate candidates had received Musk’s backing. As of around noon EST on Wednesday, 19 had won, all in seats Republicans were expected to retain, while 47 had lost and 40 contests remained uncalled.
Tesla , SpaceX shares fall as Musk’s wealth declines
The election results also coincided with a fall in the value of Musk’s companies and his personal wealth.Forbes estimated Musk’s net worth at $878 billion on Wednesday, after it fell by $23.7 billion during the morning as markets reacted to the prospect of a Democratic-controlled Congress.Shares of Tesla and SpaceX declined, amid concerns about a possible regulatory slowdown in data centre construction. Dell, Nvidia and SoftBank also recorded notable declines.Tesla shares fell 3.3% and SpaceX shares dropped 3.8%, wiping out more than $120 billion in value, according to Bloomberg. The publication cited a Financial Times estimate that Musk had lost around $30 billion in personal wealth.The losses followed a costly election cycle in which Musk had sought to replicate his support for candidates backed by Donald Trump in the 2024 election.According to OpenSecrets, Musk spent about $291 million during that earlier cycle.