Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has mocked Republicans following their heavy defeat in the United States midterm elections, despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars supporting the party’s candidates.
Musk made the remark on Wednesday in a post on his social media platform, X, after Democrats secured control of both chambers of Congress in an election widely viewed as a major setback for President Donald Trump and his political agenda.
“Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” Musk wrote, adding a shrug emoji.
The comment came after the technology billionaire reportedly contributed nearly half a billion dollars to Republican political campaigns, making him the largest individual donor in a federal election cycle since restrictions on unlimited election spending were relaxed in 2010, according to campaign finance tracker OpenSecrets.
Much of Musk’s political spending went to his Republican-leaning America PAC and the Republican Senate Leadership Fund, a super political action committee.
In September, the Senate Leadership Fund deployed $158m from Musk’s contributions to support Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton in Texas.
However, Paxton, a close ally of Trump, lost to Democratic candidate James Talarico, who secured victory in a significant political upset.
Talarico’s win also marked the first time a Democrat had secured statewide office in Texas since 1994.
Speaking at his victory rally in Austin, Talarico took a swipe at Musk and other influential figures he said had opposed his campaign.
“In this race, we went up against our own Goliaths. The richest man in the world, the most powerful man in the world, and the entire Washington, DC establishment,” he said.
Musk’s reaction and the Democratic victories highlighted the political setback suffered by Republicans despite the enormous financial backing provided by wealthy donors during the midterm election campaign.
