Billionaire Elon Musk gave $43.6 million to the America PAC in early October, raising his total contributions to the group to at least $118.6 million since July, according to federal filings released Thursday night.
America PAC is a super political action committee that supports Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in battleground states such as Pennsylvania. Musk formed the super PAC in May and has contributed nearly all of its money. The additional $43.6 million moved him into second among Trump's backers, behind only Timothy Mellon, a banking heir who's given $150 million.
Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, also gave $10 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans in the upper chamber of the U.S. Congress, according to the new filings, which cover the first 16 days of October.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, maintained a sizable fundraising lead over Trump, both in official campaign cash and money for allied groups such as super PACs, the filings show. However, the money doesn't guarantee electoral success: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democrats' 2016 nominee, lost to Trump despite a roughly 2-to-1 cash advantage.
More billionaires reportedly favor Harris over Trump, but the conflicts of interest posed by Musk's political engagement—he has campaigned fervently in person in recent weeks—have drawn particular scrutiny from watchdog groups and journalists.
Musk's sprawling business empire includes SpaceX, Tesla, and X, formerly known as Twitter. His companies benefit from a wide array of government contracts and are also subject to regulations put in place by the executive branch, as well as scrutiny from the justice system; they face at least 11 criminal and civil investigations for alleged fraud or other misconduct.
Public Citizen, a watchdog group, on Tuesday released a report arguing that Musk was pushing for a Trump victory as a way to avoid corporate accountability.
Musk has openly acknowledged that he seeks large-scale deregulation.
"If Trump wins, we do have an opportunity to do kind of a once in a lifetime deregulation and reduction in the size of the government," he said at a conference last month.
Trump has said that he will appoint Musk to lead a new federal "efficiency commission" if elected—an idea Musk floated during an interview with the former president on X in August. Observers have questioned the legality of such an arrangement.
"That would essentially give the world's richest man and a major government contractor the power to regulate the regulators who hold sway over his companies, amounting to a potentially enormous conflict of interest," according to an investigation published Sunday in The New York Times.
Musk drew regulatory attention this week not for his business dealings but for his campaign tactics. The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to America PAC warning that it might be in violation of federal laws for paying voters, the Timesreported.
The DOJ warning, which came alongside an outcry from Public Citizen and other watchdog groups, was issued because the super PAC established a lottery system that randomly awards $1 million each day to a registered voter in a swing state who signs a petition involving the right to bear arms. The giveaways appear to have continued on Thursday despite the DOJ warning, after an apparent pause on Wednesday, New York magazine reported.
The filings released Thursday night show that America PAC in early October received its first contributions from people other than Musk, including $2 million from former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her family members.
Musk's $43.6 million in contributions to America PAC came in four parts: $11 million on Oct. 4, $10 million on Oct. 9, $7.9 million on Oct. 11, and $14.7 million on Oct. 15. The Thursday filing is expected to be the last of its kind that will be made public before polling closes on November 5.
