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Elon Musk was the only funder of a brilliant PAC fashioned within the ultimate weeks of the election that spent tens of millions on advertisements claiming Donald Trump’s place on abortion was aligned with that of the late Supreme Court docket Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The $20.5 million that Musk put into that group, RBG PAC, accounted for only a small fraction of his whole political spending this yr, which included $238 million to a brilliant PAC he began and tens of millions extra to different GOP teams.
In whole, the richest particular person on this planet plowed greater than $260 million into the 2024 election, making him probably the one largest particular person political donor of the cycle.
Musk’s involvement along with his group, America PAC, was well-known, with the tech CEO showing at occasions in swing states, posting concerning the tremendous PAC on X and conducting very public sweepstakes. However RBG PAC — and Musk’s involvement in it — was extra secretive. He poured $20.5 million into the group on Oct. 24, which was not revealed till it filed a marketing campaign finance report with the Federal Election Fee late Thursday. The timing of the donation meant that Musk’s assist didn’t must be disclosed till after the election, and neither he nor the group publicly touted his backing.
RBG PAC spent almost all of its cash on promoting. Its advertisements claimed that Ginsburg — the liberal longtime justice and staunch ladies’s rights advocate who died in 2020 — was of “one thoughts” with Trump on the problem of abortion. Its web site featured photographs of Trump and Ginsburg with the caption “nice minds suppose alike.”
Justices largely keep away from talking publicly about presidential politics, however Ginsburg’s dying want in 2020 was that she not get replaced on the courtroom by Trump, her granddaughter stated. Trump changed her with Amy Coney Barrett shortly earlier than the 2020 election; Barrett was within the judicial majority that voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade two years later.
The flurry of RBG PAC promoting got here within the ultimate weeks of this yr’s election, after Democrats spent months — years — hitting Trump on the problem of abortion after the courtroom led by justices he appointed overturned Roe, main greater than a dozen states to ban the process.
Musk — who’s poised to advise Trump below the banner of the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity — grew to become a significant political participant this yr, endorsing Trump and showing alongside him on the marketing campaign path. His spending was principally within the presidential race, however he additionally dropped tens of millions for down-ballot elections.
His America PAC raised $252 million over the cycle. Its late spending push included almost $41 million associated to the petition the group circulated, with Musk promising $1 million giveaways to sure signers and smaller checks to others who referred voters to signal. The group additionally spent tens of tens of millions on canvassing and mailers within the presidential race, and some million {dollars} throughout greater than a dozen Home races.
In late October, Musk additionally gave $3 million to a brilliant PAC linked to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and $924,600 to Trump 47 Committee, his first direct donation to Trump’s operation. That joint fundraising committee sends cash to Trump’s marketing campaign in addition to the Republican Nationwide Committee and different GOP teams.
Musk this yr additionally beforehand gave $1 million to the GOP-linked tremendous PAC Early Vote Motion and several other hundred thousand {dollars} to a joint fundraising committee affiliated with Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.).
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