--- title: "Elon Musk Has Been Throwing Tens of Millions of Dollars at Republicans for Way Longer Than We Thought" description: "Though he's been very active in support of Donald Trump in 2024, it appears that Elon Musk has been donating big to GOP candidates for years." date: "2024-10-04" modified: "2024-10-04" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-gop-donations" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "fundraising" - "politics" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk Has Been Throwing Tens of Millions of Dollars at Republicans for Way Longer Than We Thought ![Though he's been very active in support of Donald Trump in 2024, it appears that Elon Musk has been donating big to GOP candidates for years.]() *\Image: Matt McClain / The Washington Post via Getty\* ## Donation Station Though he's been [very active in support of former president Donald Trump]() during this election cycle, it appears that multi-hyphenate billionaire Elon Musk has been donating heavily to GOP candidates for years now. As sources close to the billionaire [revealed to the *Wall Street Journal*](), Musk has been quietly donating tens of millions of dollars to Republican candidates and causes since as early as 2022. He donated so much, in fact, that he became one of the biggest conservative donors — all without anyone knowing. During the 2022 midterm election cycle, the 53-year-old entrepreneur donated $50 million to a political action committee (PAC) called Citizens for Sanity. Started by ex-Trump aide Stephen Miller, the group's main focus aligns heavily with Musk's: lobbying against undocumented immigrants and transgender healthcare for children. Though the exact dates of that donation were not included in the *WSJ*'s reporting, the timing is nevertheless salient given that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO's daughter, Vivian Wilson, came out as trans in 2022 and moved to have her last name changed to her mother's to [distance herself from him](). ## Murkey Money Musk's donations to the PAC, which was incorporated in Delaware earlier in 2022 and listed employees from Miller's nonprofit American First Legal, were verified by tax filings and people who spoke with the *WSJ* about them. The billionaire donated to Miller's PAC through a "[dark money]()" group called Building America’s Future, which allowed him to do so without his name being disclosed. Along with spending big in the midterms, Musk also donated $10 million to Florida governor Ron DeSantis' presidential bid in 2023 — a sum that made him one of the Republican's biggest backers. Using a group called Faithful & Strong Policies, over half of the money from Musk's donations to the former presidential candidate ended up with a pro-DeSantis PAC called Never Back Down. Beyond highlighting how easy it is for the rich to donate huge sums of money to candidates and causes through "[dark money]()" groups without the public learning of it, these previously unreported donations also show that Musk has been quietly maneuvering in conservative politics for longer than most people knew. **More on Musk:** [*Elon Musk Pretends Not to Know About the Horrible Accusations Against His "Good Friend" Puff Daddy*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()