On Thursday, October 24th, the data disclosed by America PAC, the political action committee supporting Trump’s reelection, revealed that billionaire Elon Musk donated around $44 million to the committee in the first half of October. The total accumulated donation has now exceeded $118 million.
As the U.S. presidential election approaches, Musk has increased his support for the Republican presidential candidate and former president, Donald Trump.
According to Reuters, documents submitted to the Federal Election Commission disclosed this donation by America PAC. A previous report showed that Musk had donated approximately $75 million to the committee from July to September.
America PAC is dedicated to targeting voters in battleground states that could determine the outcome of the U.S. election. Materials released by this committee show that in the first half of October, their expenses exceeded $47 million.
This indicates that in the fiercely competitive 2024 presidential election, the political action committee founded by Musk has provided significant financial support for Trump’s return to the White House.
Furthermore, according to another document submitted to the Federal Election Commission, Trump’s campaign team spent over $88 million on advertising in the first half of this month, reserving $36 million for the final stages of the campaign. During this period, Trump’s campaign team raised $16 million.
In recent months, fundraising and expenditures by Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign team have surpassed Trump’s campaign team.
Reportedly, at the beginning of October, Harris’s campaign spent over $130 million on advertising. According to disclosures from Harris’s campaign team, they raised $97 million in the first half of this month, with a bank deposit of $119 million as of October 16th.
Another conservative super PAC, the Sentinel Action Fund, also stated that they received a $2.3 million donation from Musk.
Musk’s generous donation to America PAC has placed him in the exclusive club of major Republican donors. Other notable donors on the list include conservative billionaire Timothy Mellon, an heir in the banking industry, and the gambling industry tycoon Miriam Adelson.
As part of his support for Trump, Musk announced on October 19th that until Election Day on November 5th, he would donate $1 million each day to a randomly selected registered voter who signed a petition supporting freedom of speech and gun rights — a petition open only to registered voters in battleground states.
Reportedly, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a letter to America PAC on Wednesday, October 23rd, warning that this action may violate federal law.
However, paying to encourage support for the Constitution through petitions falls into a gray area of U.S. election law, and legal experts have differing opinions on whether Musk would violate election regulations because of this.