Inside Elon Musk's Midterm Spending Spree

Elon Musk's political group, America PAC, is spending millions of dollars to influence the 2026 midterm elections. The group is focused on key Senate races that could decide which party controls Congress. Most of the money is being spent to attack Democratic candidates rather than to support Republicans. Reporters at WIRED created a live tracker to follow the spending in real time.

America PAC first got attention in 2024 when it spent over $260 million to help elect Donald Trump as president. This time, the group is targeting specific Senate races. If Democrats win enough of these races, they could take control of the Senate and begin launching investigations into Musk and his companies.

The spending gap is striking. For every dollar the PAC spends helping a Republican, more than two dollars go toward attacking a Democrat. In Texas alone, the PAC spent about $9 million attacking one Democratic candidate while spending just $1 million promoting the Republican candidate in that race.

The episode also explained a philosophy called effective altruism. It is the belief that people should use their time and money in the most helpful way possible to save or improve as many lives as they can. Many AI researchers follow this philosophy and worry that powerful AI could one day be dangerous to humanity.

The Trump administration has pushed back hard against effective altruism. Pentagon officials called it a 'dangerous ideology,' and a Defense Department social media account told people to choose 'Americanism, not effective altruism.' The debate has moved far beyond the tech world and into national politics.

The episode also covered graphic designer Jessica Hische, who was hired by Meta to design the logo for its AI assistant, Muse. When she told her newsletter readers about the project, she was flooded with angry messages online. People said they were disgusted with her and even posted photos of her home on social media.

Hische said she took the job because her usual clients had stopped calling, partly because companies were using AI instead of hiring artists. She was paid about $12,500 for the work — much less than most people would guess for a major tech company's project. She said she still believes she did the right thing by showing that big companies can and should hire real artists.

The story raises big questions about money, power, and technology. How much influence should one very wealthy person have over elections? Should people work for companies whose technology they have mixed feelings about? There are no simple answers, but these debates are happening right now — and they affect everyone.