2026年10月15日 / 美国东部时间晚上9:22 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
据美国联邦选举委员会的备案文件显示，亿万富翁埃隆·马斯克于上月向支持参议院共和党人的主要超级政治行动委员会捐赠了1.58亿美元，该款项几乎立刻被转至支持得克萨斯州联邦参议院共和党候选人肯·帕克斯顿的团体。
共和党正竭力保住得克萨斯州的参议院席位，多项民调显示，帕克斯顿与民主党对手詹姆斯·塔拉里科的选情胶着。
马斯克此次援助，加上向其他团体捐赠的数千万美元，标志着这位全球首富重新大手笔投入政治捐款。2024年，他曾斥资超2.5亿美元支持特朗普总统及其他共和党候选人。
该超级政治行动委员会周四通报，马斯克于9月9日向参议院领导基金PAC捐赠7500万美元，两周后又追加了8300万美元。马斯克这两笔巨额捐款合计占该超级政治行动委员会今年第三季度总筹款额的一半以上。
每笔捐款到账的次日，参议院领导基金PAC就将等额资金拨付给得克萨斯州PAC。该团体通报已斥资超1亿美元用于支持帕克斯顿、诋毁塔拉里科的宣传活动。
马斯克还在7月至9月期间向自己创立的美国政治行动委员会（America PAC）捐赠了超8000万美元。该委员会是他2024年政治捐款的主要载体，已披露将资金用于得克萨斯州参议院竞选以及其他多场竞争激烈的国会选区选举。
近期一直严厉批评塔拉里科的马斯克是得克萨斯州居民，他旗下的SpaceX和特斯拉两家最大企业在该州设有大量运营基地。
塔拉里科有望成为三十多年来首位在得克萨斯州赢得全州性选举的民主党人。他试图借帕克斯顿的丑闻历史，以及今年早些时候帕克斯顿在激烈初选中击败现任共和党参议员约翰·科宁后，得克萨斯州共和党内部仍存在的分歧造势。帕克斯顿及其包括特朗普在内的盟友辩称，塔拉里科的政治立场过于左倾，不符合得克萨斯州选民的倾向。
最新民调显示，塔拉里科的领先优势处于抽样误差范围内。如果帕克斯顿输掉该席位，将对共和党保住参议院多数席位的努力造成严重打击。
马斯克在2024年选举周期曾是美国最大的政治捐款人，起初外界并不清楚他是否计划在未来选举中投入类似规模的资金。他在特朗普政府政府效率部任职的经历以短暂与总统交恶告终，去年他还曾一度暗示打算缩减政治开支，在一次采访中开玩笑称：“我想我已经做得够多了。”
美国政治行动委员会发言人安德鲁·罗密欧在发给哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的一份声明中表示：“如果民主党掌控华盛顿，并在今年11月的关键州长和司法部长选举中获胜，美国将面临沦为社会主义、‘觉醒’且边界开放的国家的风险。这些大手笔投资让共和党宣传机器能够传递其信息，使共和党有机会打破历史规律。”
Elon Musk donates over $150 million to Senate GOP group, assisting Ken Paxton
October 15, 2026 / 9:22 PM EDT / CBS News
Billionaire Elon Musk donated $158 million last month to the main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans, which almost immediately sent the money to a group that supports GOP Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Republicans are fighting to hold on to the Texas Senate seat, as polls point to a tight race between Paxton and Democratic opponent James Talarico.
The assist from Musk — along with tens of millions of dollars in donations to other groups — marks a decisive return to large-scale political giving for the world’s richest man, who spent over a quarter of a billion dollars backing President Trump and other Republican candidates in 2024.
Musk donated $75 million to the Senate Leadership Fund PAC on Sept. 9, and $83 million two weeks later, the group reported Thursday. Combined, the two super-sized donations from Musk made up more than half of the super PAC’s total receipts in the third quarter of this year.
One day after each donation, the Senate Leadership Fund PAC disbursed the same amount to Texas PAC. That group reported over $100 million in pro-Paxton and anti-Talarico spending.
Musk also donated more than $80 million from July to September to his own group, America PAC, which was the primary vehicle for his political giving in 2024. The group reported spending on the Texas Senate contest and several other competitive congressional races.
Musk — who has strongly criticized Talarico in recent weeks — is a resident of Texas, and his largest companies, SpaceX and Tesla, base many of their operations in the state.
Talarico is attempting to become the first Democrat to win a statewide race in Texas in more than three decades. He has sought to capitalize on Paxton’s history of scandal, and on still-lingering divides among Texas Republicans after Paxton defeated incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in a bitter primary contest earlier this year. Paxton and his allies, including Mr. Trump, have argued Talarico is too far to the left for Texas’ electorate.
Most recent polls show Talarico with a within-the-margin-of-error lead. If Paxton loses the seat, it could deal a serious blow to Republicans’ efforts to hold on to the Senate.
After Musk served as the country’s top political donor in the 2024 cycle, it was initially unclear whether he planned to spend similar sums in future elections. His stint leading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency ended with him briefly feuding with the president, and he suggested at one point last year that he planned to scale back his political spending, joking during one interview, “I think I’ve done enough.”
America PAC spokesperson Andrew Romeo said in a statement to CBS News: “If Democrats take control of Washington and win key gubernatorial and attorney general races this November, then America risks becoming a socialist, woke and borderless country. These robust investments have allowed the G.O.P. apparatus to get its message out so Republicans can have a fighting chance to defy history.”
发表回复