Business

Elon Musk Donates $5 Million To Greg Abbott

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Elon Musk donated $5 million Tuesday to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign days before the midterm elections.

Abbott raked in $26 million in a 30-day reporting period that ended Oct. 24, with at least $6 million coming from Musk and other donors associated with tech and data centers, according to Politico. Musk spent more than $445 million on Republican groups and his super PAC since July, making him the largest known donor in the midterms, according to The New York Times.

Musk primarily allocated his spending toward the Texas Senate race, unloading over a third of its spending to boost Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s chances. He holds several business interests in Texas, including Tesla and X, which are both headquartered in the state.

The tech mogul previously gave $500,000 to Abbott’s campaign while many of his companies rely on data centers. SpaceX runs a rocket facility on the Gulf Coast and Tesla has a giant auto plant in the Austin area.

Abbott received $200,000 from artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic’s employee PAC and $300,000 from Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown, according to Politico. He took $250,000 each from Dallas businessmen Harlan Crowand and Ray Hunt, who have been involved in data center development.

Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee for Texas, collected $17.5 million during the 30-day reporting period, including millions of dollars from unions and $1 million from Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, according to Politico. She attempted to tie Abbott to the tech industry and Musk throughout her campaign.

Hinojosa took a $150,000 campaign contribution from OpenAI investor Jessica Livingston.

Abbott pledged to make Texas the “epicenter” of artificial intelligence development. His staff held a meeting in December with tech companies, power line builders and electricity officials two days before Texas’ main grid operator rolled out a framework for new centers, Politico reported.

The Texas governor ordered state agencies to temporarily halt permits for new data center projects, which Hinojosa alleged was a politically motivated move.

A majority of registered voters in Texas, 57%, oppose the construction of data centers, according to a poll by The Texas Politics Project.

Abbott led Hinojosa by an average of three points, according to RealClearPolling. He won his 2022 gubernatorial race by a 54.8% to 43.8% margin against former Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke.