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Elon musk.(Photo: Reuters)
By Jennifer Jacobs and Bill Allison
Elon Musk is pledging to pour $45 million a month into a pro-Donald Trump political group, a move that would flood the Republican nominee’s reelection effort with cash through the November election.
Musk’s planned cash infusion could help build Trump’s fundraising advantage over President Joe Biden, who has suffered from a donor revolt in recent weeks, with some calling for him to step aside for a new nominee. The billionaire entrepreneur endorsed Trump in a post on X after the former president was wounded while addressing a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening.
The super political action committee raised $8.8 million in the second quarter, spent $7.8 million and started July with a little less than $1 million cash on hand, according to its most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission.
Musk — who didn’t contribute until July, according to a person familiar with the matter — wasn’t listed in the report, which includes donations made between the PAC’s founding on May 22 and the end of June.
Douglas Leone of Sequoia Capital gave $1 million, as did Florida restaurateur James Liautaud.
Citadel’s Ken Griffin and Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Investment Management, who’ve both been critics of Trump, met with the former president to discuss donating to his White House bid. Neither man has made a commitment to donate.
Biden’s disastrous performance in his June 27 debate with Trump, which plunged the Democratic Party into an internecine struggle between his supporters and those who would prefer a different standard bearer, accelerated the move to Trump.
America PAC is working mostly behind the scenes to bolster the Trump campaign’s ground game.
Though FEC disclosures don’t detail where the work is occurring, canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts are conducted most intensively in key battleground states that will determine the outcome of the election.
Democrats have invested heavily in field offices and staff in swing states, moves Biden regularly touts on the stump.
A super-PAC matching those efforts on Trump’s behalf gives Republicans a major cash advantage to spend official campaign money elsewhere, in what is shaping up to be the most expensive presidential election in US history.
Among outside organizations backing Trump, America PAC is the biggest spender on direct voter contacts. It has spent $15.8 million so far, with $13.1 million of that going for field operations, federal records show. It has also paid for digital media, texting and phone calls to reach voters.
The group focuses on door-to-door persuasion and get-out-the-vote efforts. A recent ruling by the FEC allows super-PACs to coordinate with campaigns on voter outreach.
First Published: Jul 16 2024 | 8:07 AM IST
