Elon Musk’s Super PAC spent around US$200 million to help elect Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the group’s spending, funding an effort that set a new standard for how billionaires can influence elections.
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The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO provided the vast majority of money to America PAC, which focused on low-propensity and first-time voters, according to the person, who was not authorised to disclose the figure publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
America PAC’s work was aided by a March ruling from the Federal Election Commission that paved the way for Super PACs to coordinate their canvassing efforts with campaigns, allowing the Trump campaign to rely on the near-unlimited money of the nation’s most high-profile billionaire to boost turnout in deep-red parts of the country.
That allowed the campaign to spend the money they saved on everything from national ad campaigns to targeted outreach toward demographics Democrats once dominated.
The plan worked for both sides. Trump saw key turnout surges in battleground states, and at the end of the campaign the president-elect credited Musk’s role in the race. “We have a new star,” Trump said at his election night party in Florida. “A star is born – Elon!”
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