Tens of millions of dollars are pouring into Texas as Democrats stage an audacious bid to win a US Senate seat in the Republican stronghold.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is among those wading into the closely watched race as November’s midterm elections approach.

In September alone, Musk gave $158m to the Senate Leadership Fund, the primary super political action committee (Pac) backing Republican Senate candidates, Axios first reported. The donation accounted for more than half of the Senate Leadership Fund’s fundraising in the third quarter.

Separately, Musk donated $10m to Lone Star Liberty Pac, the committee dedicated to supporting Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate in Texas, after Alex Latcham, the president of the Senate Leadership Fund, requested the funding.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed Axios’s reporting to the Guardian. The Guardian has also asked representatives for America Pac, the political operation founded by Musk, for comment.

The donations came as Republicans were struggling to keep up with spending by Paxton’s Democratic opponent, James Talarico. Over the summer, Talarico released an ad painting Paxton negatively as a politician with a history of corruption.

Talarico, a young, progressive candidate known for his faith-based messaging, made strides with liberal voters in Texas when he defeated an established Democrat for the Senate nomination earlier this year. Talarico raised $64m – the largest third-quarter fundraising of a Senate candidate in history, just this summer, Politico reported.

“He’s fighting this battle basically alone while Elon Musk and the full weight of the GOP fundraising apparatus outspends him 2:1. This is still an uphill battle,” an unnamed Democratic strategist working in Texas told Politico.

Polls have shown the two candidates are essentially tied, though some have Talarico polling narrowly ahead of Paxton.

The Texas Senate race is one of the most competitive races in the country and was expected to cost millions of dollars because it’s an expensive state to run a campaign.

The Senate Leadership Fund warned, months earlier, that supporting Paxton would cost anywhere from $150m to $200m. But Donald Trump chose Paxton himself to run against Talarico.

When Musk’s team and the Senate Leadership Fund analyzed polling, they found Paxton’s chances of winning dwindling, leading Musk to step in, Axios reported.

In the 2025-2026 election cycle, Musk has donated approximately $366m to federal committees, the New York Times reported earlier this week. That is significantly more than he did during the 2024 election cycle, when he gave about $290m to help Trump.

The increase in spending contradicts a statement Musk made in May 2025 when he predicted: “I think, in terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future.”

Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for America Pac, told the New York Times: “These robust investments have allowed the GOP apparatus to get its message out so Republicans can have a fighting chance to defy history.

“If Democrats take control of Washington and win key gubernatorial and attorney general races this November, then America risks becoming a socialist, woke and borderless country,” Romeo added.