America PAC filed $43.9M in midterm spending; Musk team claims $276M since July

What the record proves: $47 million, to the cent

America PAC reports its finances to the Federal Election Commission, listing each contribution on a form called Schedule A. We read every Musk-related entry in the three reports whose line items we could open: the mid-year 2025 report and the April and July 2026 quarterlies.

They show 17 entries between 18 February 2025 and 30 June 2026, totalling $47,429,807.80. Musk wrote $18.95 million in cheques himself. The other $28.48 million came from three entities, each entry paired with a memo line attributing it to him: United States of America Inc., a Texas corporation with Musk as sole director; the Elon Musk Revocable Trust; and Excession LLC, his family office. Each report's entries add up exactly to the year-to-date total the PAC printed for Musk, so a transcription error would show.

A fourth report, for the second half of 2025, lists $2,879,706.57 in itemised contributions from individuals, but its line items would not load. Counting all of it as Musk's gives a ceiling of $50.31 million from him to America PAC before July.

Exhibit 2 (Read in filing and Claimed). America PAC Schedule A, FEC-1909353, FEC-1965287 and FEC-1994129; year-end 2025 summary, FEC-1947425; cash on hand from the FEC committee summary. July to September figure as stated by Musk's team to The New York Times.

The pattern matters. America PAC runs almost empty. On 30 June 2026 it had $274,171.32 in the bank and no debts, after spending $52.28 million over the cycle. Musk tops it up as it spends. Since 19 August it has reported $43.9 million of new midterm spending. That money had to come from somewhere, and Musk and his company have supplied almost all of the PAC's receipts this cycle. The spending is consistent with his team's claim of a $76 million summer infusion. Thursday's report will show the receipts.

Set against the full-cycle claim, the federal record is thin. That is mostly a matter of the calendar.

Exhibit 3 (Claim against record). The $35 million is $5 million each to the Senate Leadership Fund, the Congressional Leadership Fund and MAGA Inc. on 27 June 2025 (NBC News, citing filings FEC-1909349, FEC-1909444 and FEC-1909741); a further $5 million each to the first two in December 2025 (Politico; Washington Post); and $10 million to Fight for Kentucky in January 2026 (Axios). The Times' figures imply about $90 million before July; we can place about $85 million of it.

The midterm spending we can already see

Super PACs must disclose independent expenditures, money spent on ads, mail and calls that support or oppose a candidate, within 48 hours once they pass $10,000 for an election, and within 24 hours in the final 20 days. America PAC filed 25 such notices between 2 September and 9 October. We transcribed all 987 entries and checked each filing's line count and printed total against our sums. Every one matched.

Exhibit 4 (Read in filing). America PAC Form 24 notices FEC-2010598 to FEC-2019090, transcribed and summed by Valdrans. Plotted by filing date; expenditure dates run from 19 August to 9 October. Many mail entries are scheduled to land as late as 27 October, so these are commitments as well as completed spending.

The total is $43,885,698.49. It began with $800,475 in the first notice and accelerated sharply this month: notices filed in the week of 5 October alone came to $17.15 million.

The money is concentrated. Seven Senate races take $34.97 million, 80 per cent of the total. Texas takes $16.76 million, more than Ohio and Michigan combined. Most of it attacks rather than promotes. Across all races America PAC spent $2.42 opposing a candidate for every $1 supporting one, and $3.03 for every $1 in Senate races. Its single largest target is James Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee in Texas, at $13.59 million.

Exhibit 5 (Read in filing). America PAC Form 24 notices, 2 September to 9 October 2026, summed by Valdrans by candidate ID. Filings record only support or oppose; party labels are ours. New Hampshire includes one $73,479.61 entry against Chris Pappas coded to the primary.

The filings record whether a candidate is supported or opposed, not their party. Every name we recognise follows the same pattern: Republicans supported, Democrats opposed.

What the money buys is mail and online advertising. Printing and postage account for $21.66 million and digital ads for $16.18 million. Recorded phone messages and texts make up the rest. Not one entry is for canvassing.

Exhibit 6 (Read in filing). America PAC Form 24 notices, 2 September to 9 October 2026. Purpose groups combine the filed descriptions "printing" and "printing/postage". Vendors below, with services as filed.

Vendor	Service as filed	Amount
IMGE LLC	Digital media, texting	$16,520,126.85
Storytellers Group LLC	Printing, postage	$10,368,893.77
Red Zone Strategic LLC	Printing, postage	$6,788,319.55
Connection Strategy LLC	Message phone calls	$4,041,339.06
Red Maverick Media LLC	Printing, postage	$1,665,936.54
The Baker Group LLC	Printing, postage	$1,649,214.57
Caliber Contact	Printing, postage	$1,192,008.15
Full Reach Media Group LLC	Digital media	$1,152,000.00
Fundamental Digital Strategy LLC	Digital media, texting	$505,360.00
The Hereford Agency	Digital media	$2,500.00
Total		$43,885,698.49

That matters because the Times reports that America PAC used its $76 million to build a large door-knocking operation. In 2024 the PAC reported more than $97 million in independent expenditures that included canvassing, according to a lawsuit the Campaign Legal Center filed against the FEC in May. This cycle, nothing in its notices does. Field costs can also be reported as ordinary operating expenses, which will first appear in Thursday's quarterly report. That report will show whether any canvassing firms are being paid.

Entries in the filings worth asking about

• Repeated entries. Nine sets of identical lines appear within single filings, with $682,764.86 in repeated amounts. The largest is a pair of $558,420.67 digital buys against Talarico on FEC-2016516 (transactions SE24.1815 and SE24.1818). The PAC's own running totals count both copies. They may be separate identical purchases or entry errors. Only the committee can say which.
• A wrong running total. FEC-2012126 prints an Ohio Senate year-to-date figure of $426,847.22 where the correct figure is $2,162,256.43. It matches the New Hampshire total plus $61,000, which suggests a copy error. The next filing returns to the correct series.
• A primary-coded entry. One $73,479.61 digital buy against Chris Pappas on FEC-2011127 is coded to the primary. The PAC's later New Hampshire totals leave it out. We include it in our total.
• Future drops. Many mail entries carry delivery dates after their filing date, as late as 27 October. They are commitments, and some of that mail has not yet landed.

All 40 races America PAC has spent in

Race	Supported	For	Opposed	Against	Total	Lines
TX Senate	Ken Paxton	$3.17M	James Talarico	$13.59M	$16.76M	60
OH Senate	Jon Husted	$2.07M	Sherrod Brown	$5.05M	$7.12M	112
MI Senate	Mike Rogers	$2.37M	Abdul El-Sayed	$3.39M	$5.76M	99
IA Senate	Ashley Hinson	$154K	Josh Turek	$2.10M	$2.25M	37
ME Senate	Susan Collins	$478K	Troy Jackson	$1,000K	$1.48M	45
NH Senate	John E. Sununu	$248K	Chris Pappas	$741K	$989K	36
AK Senate	Dan Sullivan	$187K	Mary Peltola	$421K	$608K	31
AZ-01	Thomas Feely	$465K	Amish Shah	$67K	$532K	18
AZ-06	Juan Ciscomani	$448K	Joanna Mendoza	$63K	$511K	18
PA-08	Rob Bresnahan	$205K	Paige Cognetti	$289K	$494K	20
PA-07	Ryan Mackenzie	$188K	Bob Brooks	$291K	$478K	20
PA-10	Scott Perry	$195K	Janelle Stelson	$265K	$461K	20
NJ-07	Tom Kean Jr.	$211K	Rebecca Bennett	$249K	$460K	22
NY-17	Mike Lawler	$203K	Cait Conley	$231K	$434K	23
FL-25	Scott Singer	$147K	Jared Moskowitz	$248K	$395K	31
VA-02	Jen Kiggans	$154K	Elaine Luria	$240K	$394K	23
ME-02	Paul LePage	$145K	Matt Dunlap	$220K	$365K	24
CA-22	David Valadao	$265K	Randy Villegas	$94K	$359K	18
WI-03	Derrick Van Orden	$134K	Rebecca Cooke	$213K	$348K	21
WA-03	John Braun	$298K	Marie Gluesenkamp Perez	$47K	$346K	12
NH-01	Anthony DiLorenzo	$113K	Stefany Shaheen	$178K	$291K	16
MI-04	Bill Huizenga	$66K	Sean McCann	$215K	$282K	24
CO-08	Gabe Evans	$187K	Manny Rutinel	$63K	$250K	12
MI-07	Tom Barrett	$76K	William Lawrence	$160K	$237K	24
TX-35	Carlos De La Cruz Jr.	$54K	Johnny Garcia	$179K	$232K	16
IA-01	Mariannette Miller-Meeks	$20K	Christina Bohannan	$208K	$228K	11
MI-08	Thomas Smith	$80K	Kristen McDonald Rivet	$135K	$215K	23
MI-10	Michael Bouchard	$53K	Christina Hines	$151K	$204K	24
TX-15	Monica De La Cruz	$34K	Bobby Pulido	$130K	$163K	13
IA-03	Zach Nunn	$22K	Sarah Trone Garriott	$141K	$162K	11
OH-01	Eric Conroy	$44K	Greg Landsman	$114K	$158K	16
IA-02	Joe Mitchell	$19K	Lindsay James	$130K	$150K	11
TX-28	Tano Tijerina	$56K	Henry Cuellar	$91K	$147K	14
TX-23	Brandon Herrera	$61K	Katy Padilla Stout	$86K	$147K	13
OH-05	Bob Latta	$43K	Brian Shaver	$61K	$104K	15
TX-34	Eric Flores	$39K	Vicente Gonzalez	$63K	$101K	13
OH-09	Derek Merrin	$41K	Marcy Kaptur	$53K	$94K	15
OH-13	Carey Coleman	$41K	Emilia Sykes	$52K	$93K	15
OH-07	Max Miller	$17K	Brian Poindexter	$51K	$68K	9
NH-02	Lily Tang Williams	$8K	Maggie Goodlander	$2K	$10K	2
All races		$12.82M		$31.07M	$43.89M	987

Amounts rounded (M = million, K = thousand); exact figures sum to $12,817,446.36 for, $31,068,252.13 against and $43,885,698.49 in total. "Lines" is the number of filed entries. Races keyed on state and district as filed. Candidate names as commonly used; filings list legal names.

The payment that is really a donation

A compilation of America PAC's operating payments by Election.org, built from FEC data, counts $36.43 million paid to organisations from January 2025 to June 2026. Its biggest payee, at $30.19 million, is United States of America Inc. At first sight that looks like a Musk company drawing tens of millions out of a Musk-funded PAC.

The filings say otherwise. Every USAI entry we could open on Schedule B, the form for money going out, is described as an "in-kind contribution", and each matches a Schedule A receipt from USAI, attributed to Musk, to the cent and on the same day. Federal rules require a committee to record an in-kind gift twice, once as money in and once as money out, so its books balance. USAI pays costs on the PAC's behalf, in 2025 mainly the Wisconsin petition incentives, and the PAC books the value on both sides.

Exhibit 7 (Read in filing). America PAC Schedule A and Schedule B, FEC-1965287 and FEC-1994129; USAI registration details from the Campaign Legal Center's FEC complaint. In-kind reporting rule: 11 C.F.R. § 104.13.

The totals reconcile. The nine USAI receipts we read total $28,459,059.13. The remaining $1,729,706.57 of the $30.19 million presumably sits in the late-2025 report whose lines would not load. Subtracting it from that report's $2,879,706.57 in individual receipts leaves exactly $1,150,000.00, which suggests, but does not prove, a further $1.15 million from Musk directly in late 2025.

USAI still raises a disclosure question. In April the Campaign Legal Center filed an FEC complaint arguing that USAI should have registered as a political committee itself. Because America PAC reports USAI's spending only as lump in-kind values, its filings do not show whom USAI paid. The source of the money is clear. Who received it is not.

Where the cash went: a law firm, and a candidate

Set aside the in-kind entries and the organisations America PAC actually paid come to $6.24 million through June. The largest by far is Lex Politica PLLC, at $2,274,303.43 across ten payments. With $141,431 to Gober Group PLLC, the two firms associated with the Texas election lawyer Chris Gober received $2,415,734.43, 39 per cent of the total.

Exhibit 8 (Compiled from filings). Election.org compilation of America PAC's FEC operating-expenditure records (checked 24 August 2026; excludes memo entries and superseded amendments). Lex Politica payment of $872,214.27 on 27 March 2026 read directly in FEC-1965287. These records end on 30 June, before the midterm spending in Exhibits 4 to 6.

The largest single payment we could read is $872,214.27 to Lex Politica on 27 March 2026, described as "legal consulting". It accounts for more than half of everything America PAC itemised that quarter. Gober's firm biography says he represented Musk and America PAC in the lawsuits brought by the Wisconsin attorney general and the Philadelphia district attorney over the cash giveaways. The filings do not say which work the fees covered.

Gober is now a candidate himself. He won the Republican primary for Texas's 10th congressional district outright, with 51 per cent, and faces the Democrat Caitlin Rourk in November. His campaign committee, Chris Gober for Texas, reported $2,559,184.84 in receipts through 30 June. We could not check whether any of it came from Musk or America PAC, because the FEC pages listing those receipts did not load. No source we found reports such a gift.

The American Prospect reported in September that Gober's financial disclosure values his Lex Politica stake at up to $50 million, and that he holds stakes in two advisory firms, one a registered lobbyist for nuclear and defence-technology companies. It also reported that he met the Grimes County judge in December 2025, and again the day after the county approved a 25-year, 100 per cent tax abatement for SpaceX's planned $55 billion "Terafab" chip plant. His campaign says he has "no financial or business interest in the project" and has never discussed it with Musk or SpaceX. The Prospect corrected an earlier version that suggested he had helped SpaceX win the abatement.

The records show overlapping relationships between Musk's political operation, its lawyer and a congressional campaign. They do not show money moving between them.

Two other payees stand out. M2 Placement LLC received a single $999,699 payment on 3 March 2025 with no purpose shown in the compilation; five congressional campaigns have also paid it, most of all Friends of Nathan Butterfield 2026 ($740,620). IMGE LLC, the digital firm now handling $16.5 million of the PAC's midterm ads, received $810,664 in 2025.

Money the federal filings will never show

Some of Musk's political money is reported to state regulators or the IRS, and some is not reported at all.

Recipient	Amount	Where it is reported	Status
Republican Party of Wisconsin	$3M	Wisconsin state filings, Feb and Mar 2025. Sources differ on whether Musk or America PAC gave.	Reported
V-PAC, Ohio (backs Vivek Ramaswamy)	$5M	Ohio state records, May 2026	Reported
Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Texas	$0.5M each	Texas state filings, 2026. Some outlets report larger sums.	Reported
Republican Governors Association; Republican Attorneys General Association	$10M; $2M	IRS political-organisation reports, since July 2026	Claimed
Trump inaugural committee (in-kind, from X Corp.)	$1M	Supplemental FEC filing, July 2025, as a corporate gift	Reported
Undisclosed recipients	Unknown	Nowhere. The Times cites people briefed on his giving.	Claimed

Building America's Future, a nonprofit tied to Musk's political operation since 2022 that does not disclose its donors, reported $100.2 million in revenue for 2024 on its latest public tax return, about $74.5 million of it from one anonymous donor. No record shows Musk funding it in 2025 or 2026. Its 2025 return is not yet public.

Scrutiny so far: a reprimand, a declined prosecution and a stalled regulator

The federal regulator cannot rule on anything. The FEC has been without the quorum it needs to act since 2025, and Public Citizen counts more than 300 enforcement matters stalled. Accountability has shifted to state bodies and courts, which are still dealing with the 2024 and 2025 giveaways.

Matter	Where	Status
USAI should have registered and reported as a political committee	FEC complaint by Campaign Legal Center, 29 Apr 2026 (complaint)	Pending; the FEC cannot act without a quorum
FEC guidance lets coordinated canvassing escape disclosure; America PAC cited as an example	CLC v. FEC, U.S. District Court for D.C., No. 1:26-cv-1559, filed 6 May 2026 (complaint, ¶ 85)	Pending
$1 million offers to Wisconsin voters, March 2025	Wisconsin Elections Commission, EL 25-37 and EL 25-45	Probable cause found 5–1, July 2026; special prosecutor declined to charge, 25 Aug 2026
Bar on future cash offers to voters	Wisconsin Democracy Campaign v. Musk, Brown County, 2025CV002022	Pending
Partly pre-filled absentee ballot applications, 2024	Georgia State Election Board (minutes)	Letter of reprimand, Feb 2026
X livestream with Donald Trump, 2024	FEC, MUR 8301 (file)	Dismissed, Apr 2025

No complaint we found targets the 2026 money itself.

Thursday's filings will test the claim

Filing	Covers	Due	What it settles
Senate Leadership Fund, October quarterly	Jul–Sep	15 Oct	Whether $158 million arrived from Musk. The single most important document.
America PAC, October quarterly	Jul–Sep	15 Oct	Whether $76 million arrived, and who was paid, including any canvassing firms
Congressional Leadership Fund, October quarterly	Jul–Sep	15 Oct	Whether it is the unnamed House super PAC said to have received $20 million
Pre-general reports	1–14 Oct	22 Oct	Gifts made after 30 September
24-hour spending notices	Rolling	From mid-Oct	More spending by race; these do not list donors

When the reports arrive, search for Musk under every name he gives through: his own, United States of America Inc., Excession LLC and the Elon Musk Revocable Trust. Count either the entity receipts or their memo lines, never both. A shortfall on 15 October would not settle the matter on its own, because gifts dated in October will appear on the pre-general report.

Once a large sum enters the Senate Leadership Fund, it pools with every other donor's money. Even if Thursday's report confirms all $158 million, no filing will tie a particular advertisement to Musk.

How we did this

We read America PAC's Schedule A receipts in three reports and its Schedule B payments in two, line by line, and reconciled each against the totals the committee printed. We transcribed all 987 entries in its 25 Form 24 notices from the FEC's electronic filings and checked every filing's line count and total. Figures for July to September giving are as stated by Musk's representatives to The New York Times. We could not open nytimes.com and relied on published summaries of the article.

We could not reach the FEC's contributor search or API, so gifts from Musk to committees not named here cannot be ruled out. The receipt pages of the Senate Leadership Fund, the Congressional Leadership Fund and MAGA Inc., the line items of America PAC's late-2025 report, and Chris Gober's campaign receipts did not load. Figures are as of filings through 9 October 2026.