Exclusive: Elon Musk’s Employees Lose Enthusiasm for Democrats, Company Donations Disclose

Tesla and SpaceXAI employees are giving significantly less money to Democratic campaigns this year compared to what they donated in 2024 — even as polls show voters are poised to give the party wins in congressional elections across the country.The withdrawal of support runs throughout Mr. Musk’s world, according to a database of Federal Election Commission records connected to Mr. Musk’s enterprises and reviewed by The New York Sun.In 2024, the SpaceX PAC, funded by small donations taken out of SpaceX employees’ paychecks, mostly of $40 or less, spent $1.5 million, of which 30 percent went to Democrats. This year, only 3.5 percent of more than $2 million in donations has gone to Democrats.A Tesla board member and estranged scion of the Murdoch media empire, James Murdoch, was the biggest donor to Democrats in 2024 when he gave nearly $5 million to Democrats. He has cut his donations so far this cycle by more than 60 percent. Two other SpaceX board members, Antonio Gracias and Luke Nosek, have continued their smaller, but still six- and seven-figure donations to Republicans.In 2024, people who identified themselves as top executives at Musk companies split their donations but leaned Democratic. So far in the 2026 election cycle, none of the individuals identified by senior titles in federal records have given to Democrats.Donations of $1,000 or more directly to Democratic campaigns from Musk employees have plummeted, from $275,000 donated by more than 100 donors in 2024 to $84,000 from a few dozen donors so far in 2026.Smaller donations have fallen as well to $52,000 from $176,000, spread across thousands of donations. The number of donors has grown as the size of each donation fell sharply.With Mr. Musk’s record-breaking $366 million in campaign donations aiming to rescue Republican control of a Congress up for a vote in a matter of days, his increasing Republican partisanship appears to be having an impact on those around him.“I’m surprised that executives and board members at Musk companies are still giving to Democrats at all,” Tesla book author, Edward Niedermeyer, told the Sun. “Musk is singlehandedly funding some of the biggest Republican races, and is outspoken in his antipathy toward basically all Democrats, often in downright histrionic terms.” The increasing alignment between Mr. Musk and the people around him in rejecting Democrats runs counter to President Trump and his fellow Republicans’ growing unpopularity nationally as fundraising records are falling on both sides of what could be a $11.6 billion midterm political battle, expected to surpass the expense of the last record-breaking presidential election.“It could be pressure from Musk,” George W. Bush’s ethics chief, Richard Painter, told the Sun. But other explanations could explain the change as well, he said, “Many people in tech have shifted to the Republican side as extreme left attacks on capitalism have spread along with the rise of the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party.”The shift also could be driven by the prospect of regulation under Democrats, partner and analyst at Yorkville Ives & Co, Dan Ives, wrote in an email to the Sun. Mr. Musk told Mr. Ives to “shut up” in an X exchange when the respected analyst suggested the Tesla board put limits on Mr. Musk’s political activities. “The blue wave would be counter to the business climate Big Tech and Musk [need] looking ahead,” he wrote. At the same time that Mr. Musk bets big on keeping a Trump-aligned Congress in place, he may be preparing for a loss in November that would come with the threat of increased regulation, investigations, and litigation. The latest move is planning a merger of SpaceXAI worth $2 trillion with the $1.5 trillion Tesla to create an industrial and tech behemoth that may be able to better withstand political headwinds. “There’s an enormous conflict of interest,” Mr. Painter said, citing Mr. Musk’s roles as political activist, Department of Defense contractor, NASA contractor, Department of Government Efficiency “special government employee,” and Trump advisor. “Congress must demand a full accounting of the damage Mr. Musk and DOGE caused, and we will not let anyone obstruct our oversight,” Congressman Greg Meeks, the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s top Democrat, said in a statement Monday. Other potential committee chairmen in a Democratic Congress have said much the same.Mr. Musk responded on X Wednesday to a Politico article outlining those Democratic plans. “Live by the sword, die by the sword,” the billionaire wrote, “Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets.” As pressure in the last days of the campaign grows on both Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk, both men traded accusations that the other was responsible for restricting Ukrainian access to a key military system built by SpaceX. The sharp decline in giving to Democrats is not accompanied by a wave of enthusiasm for Republicans this year. Donations by employees, whether greater or lesser than $1,000, still favor Democrats. Looking at donations state by state, only Mr. Musk’s employees in Texas favor the GOP.“I struggle to imagine what it’s like being an active Democrat donor while working for someone who is funding Republicans at unprecedented rates because he believes Democrats are importing illegals to steal elections,” author and podcast host, Mr. Niedermeyer, said. If the most highly valued Musk employees were feeling the “blue wave,” they “would quit,” he surmised. Mr. Painter suggested that Tesla employees may be making donations outside the company, using their spouses’ identities. “The people who work for Musk are not stupid,” he said, “Maybe they’re just giving through their wives.”

Exclusive: Elon Musk’s Employees Lose Enthusiasm for Democrats, Company Donations Disclose

Exclusive: Elon Musk’s Employees Lose Enthusiasm for Democrats, Company Donations Disclose

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