Elon Musk has joked that his “election-interfering space lasers didn’t work” after the Democrat candidate won the Texas Senate race in the US midterm elections, a seat he had backed the Republican in.
Texas, where SpaceX and Tesla’s headquarters are based, was one of the most highly contested seats in the race. Spending on advertising, campaigning and more is said to have been one of the most expensive in history at around $500 million.
Musk's response to the result
Musk, despite his on-and-off friendship with US President Donald Trump, is said to have contributed $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund. Federal filings show the money was transferred to a Texas PAC, a Republican super political action committee.
Ultimately, state attorney general and Republican candidate Ken Paxton lost to Democrat James Talarico. In response, Musk took to X and wrote: “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”
“Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” he added.
Talarico's victory speech
Talarico’s campaign took a different approach, with grassroots funding operations where reportedly 97% of donations were under $100. Speaking on stage in Austin, he said: “We were the underdogs in this race… we went up against more than $300 million, more than any Senate campaign in American history; we went up against all of the negative ads, smear campaigns, foreign bots and AI deepfakes that money can buy.
“Despite our differences, we all want the same things. But the billionaires who own the social media algorithms, who own the cable networks, who own the politicians on our screens, they want us at our throats.
“The real fight in this country is not left vs. right. It is top vs. bottom. … Our unity is a threat to their wealth and their power.”
AI adverts circulated, including ones depicting the senator-elect reading from a fictional “King James Talarico Bible” with false quotes. He continued: “The people at the top divide us by party, by race, by gender, by religion, by culture, so we don’t notice that they are picking our pockets. … It is the oldest strategy in the world: divide and conquer.
“But tonight, we sent a crystal-clear message to the people at the top: We will not be conquered.”
Midterm results and Trump's reaction
Texas was one of several traditionally red states that turned blue in the midterm elections, as well as Kansas, South Carolina and Ohio. Across the US, the midterms saw Democrats take a narrow lead and control both the House of Representatives and the Senate, which make up the US Congress.
When speaking to Fox News in the early hours of the results morning, Trump, 80, appeared to concede defeat, saying he “thought they’d do better.” This midterm marks the start of Trump’s final few years in office as the Constitution prohibits a third term re-election.
