'Vote red today!' Elon Musk deletes pro-Republican posts after spending $458 mn

Elon Musk has deleted several social media posts urging voters to support Republican candidates in the US midterm elections, after Democrats made significant gains and secured control of both chambers of Congress.

The deleted posts included an October 29 message, which Musk had pinned to his profile, urging voters to elect Republican senators, as well as an Election Day post saying “Vote red today!”. Forbes reported that Musk removed the pinned message early Wednesday, around the time Democrat James Talarico claimed victory in the Texas Senate race.

The report comes after Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, who had received substantial financial backing from Musk.


Musk's chatbot Grok also confirmed the deletion after an X user asked whether he was removing posts related to the election. “True,” Grok replied late Wednesday morning, saying Musk had deleted the “Vote red today!” message after the results showed “major Republican losses”.

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The Election Day appeal was among Musk's few direct interventions on the platform urging support for Republicans.

It had appeared alongside posts promoting Grok and a message featuring a raised-eyebrow emoji in response to Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who also won his Senate race.

Musk jokes about election losses

Musk was more active on X on Wednesday morning, sharing several posts analysing the election results and making sarcastic remarks about the Republican defeats.

“Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” he wrote in one post, shortly after saying, “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”

He also responded to a post claiming that voters had agreed with Republicans on every policy issue but had still voted Democrat, writing: “Voter ID failed in California.”

The remark referred to the defeat of a California ballot measure that would have required voters to show government-issued photo identification when casting ballots in person or provide identification numbers when voting by mail.

Musk subsequently returned to posting about his technology ventures, including Starlink and Grok, according to The Daily Beast and Futurism.

Musk spent hundreds of millions backing Republicans

Musk was among the biggest financial backers of Republican candidates and aligned political causes during the midterm election cycle.

He channelled at least $458 million into Republican-aligned causes, making him the largest individual donor in modern US political history during the election cycle.

Federal Election Commission filings and other reporting cited by the publication showed that a significant portion, around $216 million, went directly to his super PAC, America PAC.

The organisation financed voter turnout operations, ground-level campaigning and targeted digital advertising. Musk increased his spending during the second half of the election cycle, seeking to help Republicans retain control of Congress.

His contributions went heavily towards the Texas Senate contest, the Senate Leadership Fund and key House battlegrounds in New York, New Jersey and Iowa.

According to Federal Election Commission data, Musk's spending through super PACs and other individual contributions stood around $474 million. The New York Times estimated that he spent approximately $224 million in Texas alone.

106 House and Senate candidates had received Musk's backing. As of around noon EST on Wednesday, 19 had won, all in seats Republicans were expected to retain, while 47 had lost and 40 contests remained uncalled.