Elon Musk continues his efforts to elect Republican candidates up and down the ballot. Over the weekend, he attended and spoke at a rally for former President Donald Trump. Now, his super PAC is pouring millions of dollars into key House races in hopes to maintain their majority.
The political action committee, formally named America PAC, poured $8.2 million into 18 different House of Representatives races across the 11 states, including ones in California, New York and Ohio. That figure is added to the $77 million the group has already spent supporting Trump in his reelection bid.
The PAC also says it is hiring canvassers starting at $30 an hour on its website.
The group's cash is among the biggest help some of these candidates have gotten throughout the cycle. For instance, the PAC has spent the most money, nearly $1 million, on the race in New York's 17th Congressional District, whose freshman GOP Rep. Mike Lawler is being challenged by former one-term Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones. Jones has highlighted the billionaire's support of Lawler, calling the CEO an "extreme MAGA billionaire."
"Commonsense problem solver, Mike Lawler is fighting to bring tens of millions of federal dollars back [to] the Hudson Valley," the PAC wrote in a social media post last month. "He's working for NY families. Stand with him and vote for Lawler!"
America PAC is also heavily focusing on California's 41st district race in the Inland Empire, where longtime Rep. Ken Calvert is being challenged by Democrat Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor who ran against Calvert in 2022.
Musk said on Saturday his PAC is supporting "candidates who believe in the core values of America," which the committee lists as "secure borders, safe cities, free speech, sensible spending, fair justice system and self-protection."
Nevertheless, in an interview with Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson in July, Musk said that his PAC was "not meant to be a sort of hyper partisan PAC" and its goals were "promoting meritocracy" and promoting "freedom to operate, meaning the least amount of government intervention possible."
His pledge comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) primary super PAC is being heavily outspent by its Democratic counterpart in key districts.
The GOP's Congressional Leadership Fund has put nearly $140 million into ads in competitive districts through the end of the year, compared to almost $180 million for House Majority PAC, Axios reports.
The multi-million dollar help comes as the super PAC announced they would offer people $47 if they successfully get one registered swing-state voter to sign a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments of the Constitution. The payout offer appears to be a way to financially encourage voter registration of individuals who might prefer the Republican candidate in swing states.
Paying individuals directly to register to vote is illegal, but America PAC's petition appears to skirt laws that forbid certain types of election-related payments, paying referrers of registered voters instead, NBC News reports.
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