Elon Musk's $150M Buys a Senate Seat in Texas

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has spent more than $150 million of his own money to help Ken Paxton keep pace with James Talarico's fundraising in a Texas Senate race the wire services are calling a tossup. That's the number sitting in the middle of the story. Not policy. Not ideas. Money.

Who Has the Power

Paxton, the longtime state attorney general who has weathered indictment and impeachment, took the Republican nomination this year by defeating Sen. John Cornyn in the primary with Trump's help. The president's endorsement did the work that no voter could. Now Paxton is closing out the race with a plea that sounds less like politics than a revival tent. "I'm not exaggerating when I say, if we lose Texas, we lose America," he said in Fort Worth. Then: "Pray for our Texas. Pray for me."

Talarico, a state lawmaker, seminarian and former teacher, answered in Houston by calling Paxton an especially corrupt example of a rotten political system. "This election is about whether you want a senator who puts money in your pocket or who puts money in his own," he said. He cast the race as "David vs. Goliath" and called Texans his slingshot. Fair enough, except the slingshot is a campaign operation, and the whole contest is a fight between two parties over who gets to run the same machine.

Over in Michigan, House Speaker Mike Johnson told a crowd it's "a spiritual battle" and that Republican voters owe it to a higher power to vote. "I know God does not hold us responsible for the results, but he does hold us responsible to be faithful in our duty," he said. He called Democrats "Marxists, socialists, communists." Trump, meanwhile, posted an Islamophobic cartoon on his social media site, aimed at the backdrop of Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed's race against Republican Mike Rogers.

What They're Calling "Order"

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, campaigning in Virginia's 2nd Congressional District with former Rep. Elaine Luria, promised "an affordable America" and a "graveyard of broken promises" for the other side. His agenda if Democrats win: votes on reversing Republicans' healthcare cuts, sweeping voting rights laws, and limits on Trump's military actions on Iran. "Beginning on day one, we're going to hold the crooks accountable," he said. "In the majority, one of the first things we are going to do is run Pete Hegseth out of town." That line drew the loudest roar of his 11-minute speech.

Notice what's on offer. Votes. Oversight hearings. A promise to limit military actions, not end them. The people cheering are being asked to hand their power to a different set of managers and hope for better treatment. Democrats are targeting at least 60 House seats and need at least four new Senate seats for a majority, five if they lose Michigan. Republicans hold the Senate 53-47.

Who Gets Crushed

While the leaders talk, the Democratic ranks are busy eating each other. In Michigan, El-Sayed's campaign is no longer welcoming Haley Stevens, his former primary rival, to events after she renewed her criticism of him, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity. Stevens has demanded he condemn an advertisement linking U.S. support for Israel to rising grocery prices. El-Sayed, in Sterling Heights, said "we ought to keep our money here to invest in schools here, in infrastructure here, rather than sending it somewhere else to drop a bomb somewhere else." He noted how much Stevens and her supporters outspent him in the primary: "They might as well have set their money on fire, because we beat them anyway." The American Israel Public Affairs Committee backed Stevens in the primary and now backs Rogers.

And Trump? The president stepped away from in-person rallies Saturday, spending the morning and early afternoon at his West Palm Beach golf club before dialing into six tele-rallies. MAGA Inc., his super PAC, lined them up for Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Michigan and two separate calls for Florida. "Answer your phones, and ENJOY!" he posted. A man who usually talks for 90-plus minutes from a stage now phones it in. His Iowa and Kansas rallies, set for today, were scheduled, pulled down and then rescheduled.

The Count

Early balloting totals were approaching 50 million heading into the weekend, against about 112 million total votes in the 2022 midterm elections. Voting is Tuesday. Two days out, the choice on the table is between a billionaire-fueled attorney general and a state lawmaker's slingshot, with both parties promising the same thing: that the next set of rulers will be the good ones.