'I've Done Enough': Musk Pulling Back on Political Spending

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, said on Tuesday that he will dial back his spending on future political campaigns.

Asked about his plans for political contributions at Bloomberg’s Qatar Economic Forum, Musk said over video that he’s “going to do a lot less in the future.” Musk spent nearly $240 million through his political action committee, America PAC, helping Trump and Republicans in the 2024 election cycle. His comments on Tuesday, however, indicate that he won’t be as aggressive in pushing Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.

“I think I’ve done enough,” Musk said, adding, “If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I do not currently see a reason.”

Along with his major donations to the Republican effort last election cycle, Musk was also a major fixture on the campaign trail, appearing multiple times alongside Trump. After Trump took office in January, Musk led the effort, alongside the Department of Government Efficiency project, to find waste and fraud within the federal government.

After joining Trump in the White House, Musk got behind the conservative candidate in the closely watched Wisconsin Supreme Court election, saying the race could affect the “entire destiny” of humanity. Musk’s America PAC spent millions of dollars on race, but conservative candidate Brad Schimel lost to liberal candidate Susan Crawford by 10 percentage points, and the liberals maintained a majority on the court.

Musk, who was regularly seen with the president during the Trump administration’s first 100 days, has taken a step back from overseeing Trump’s DOGE initiative.

“I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla…” Musk said last month.

The Tesla CEO added in his interview on Tuesday that he is committed to leading the electric car company for at least the next five years, saying that he wants “sufficient voting control” to keep Tesla from falling into the hands of activist investors.

“It’s not a money thing,” Musk said. “It’s a reasonable control thing over the future of the company.”

Musk’s shift back to focusing on Tesla comes after the company saw a drop in revenue and net income over the first quarter of 2025. Tesla stock dropped from $379 at the beginning of January to $222 at the beginning of April. Since then, however, the stock has climbed back up to $349. After Musk became a senior adviser to Trump and pushed for major government spending cuts, Tesla has been targeted by leftist activists who have set fires to and vandalized vehicles and threatened Tesla dealerships.

“Firing bullets into showrooms and burning down cars is unacceptable. Those people will go to prison, and the people that funded them and organized them will also go to prison. Don’t worry, we’re coming for you,” Musk said on Tuesday’s video call to the applause of the crowd.