According to the AP source, Musk’s PAC spent an estimated $200 million to help Trump get elected

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk’s super PAC spent about $200 million to help in the election Donald TrumpAccording to a person familiar with the group’s spending, it is funding an initiative that sets a new standard for how billionaires can influence elections.

Billionaire Tesla and the CEO of SpaceX gave most of the money to the America PAC, which focused on low-propensity new voters, according to the person, who was not authorized to release the figure publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity spoke.

America PAC’s work has been supported by a ruling from March from the Federal Election Commission, which paved the way for super PACs to coordinate their canvassing efforts with campaigns, allowing the Trump campaign to rely on the nearly unlimited money of the country’s most prominent billionaire to boost voter turnout in deep red parts of the country to increase country. That allowed the campaign to spend the money it saved on everything from national advertising campaigns to targeting demographics once dominated by Democrats.

The plan worked for both sides. Trump saw a significant increase in voter turnout in battleground states, and at the end of the campaign, the president-elect acknowledged 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!”

“The FEC ruling paved the way for us to profit more from soft money companies that were already doing this work,” said James Blair, the Trump campaign’s political director.

Blair served as the main bridge between the Trump operation and groups like America PAC — a far cry from the early days of super PACs, which had to set their strategy without formally communicating with the campaigns they supported.

“Saving hard dollars allowed us to make our paid voter outreach and advertising programs more comprehensive and intensive,” Blair said. That included, he added, comprehensive advertising campaigns aimed at a national audience and, crucially, more targeted campaigns aimed at increasing voter turnout among Black and Latino men, two areas where Trump made huge gains in 2024.

It wasn’t just Musk’s money that helped Trump. The billionaire businessman became one of Trump’s most prominent surrogates in the final months of the campaign, often accompanying the former president on stage. His support gave Trump clear access to the universe of younger men who look up to Musk.

Trump also benefited from Musk’s ownership of media efforts to combat disinformation, arguing that those efforts amounted to government-affiliated censorship.

Musk is now expected to play a key role in a second Trump administration. The president-elect said he would tap Musk, whose rocket company works with the Defense Department and intelligence agencies, to lead a new government efficiency commission.

A challenge to conventional wisdom

The collaboration between the Trump campaign and America PAC may have longer-term implications.

It could lead to a sweeping change in the way presidential elections are conducted, overturning long-standing sentiments about campaigns without complete control over their platform, the influence that billionaires can have on politics and the effectiveness of paid advertising.

One reason for skepticism is that this model has failed spectacularly in previous campaigns, most notably during Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ run against Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

DeSantis relied on an outside group to help his campaign more than any other candidate in the primary. The group Never Back Down was plagued by internal problemsand despite spending $130 million on advertising for the Florida governor, it was swamped by Trump and his campaign effort in Iowa.

One of the most persistent problems, however, was this Blurring of boundaries around what is legally permissible between the campaign and the outside group, an issue that worried some within the governor’s official campaign.

However, that was before the FEC ruling, meaning Trump and Musk’s group was operating in a completely different universe than it had been during the primaries a few months earlier.

The ruling “allowed for much more direct communication regarding acquisition,” Blair said. “That’s a real difference and a crucial difference.”

Musk’s outside group was founded in May, but it wasn’t until Musk endorsed Trump in July after the former president survived an assassination attempt that the group began its turnout work more clearly. A week later, Musk praised the new committee in an interview with a conservative podcaster a gaggle of high-ranking Republican activists with ties to DeSantis joined the effort.

The group ran ads warning that “Kamala and the crazies will win” if people sit out the election. The most well-known part of America PAC’s work was a $1 million a day voter sweepstakes That landed the group in court before a judge said they could continue. The sweepstakes and subsequent court case attracted widespread attention, but much of America PAC’s work occurred under the radar.

Door-knocking was arguably America PAC’s most influential work, with Trump seeing a surge in voter turnout in key rural areas of battleground states. However, the work was not without controversy.

A Report by The Guardian noted that America PAC’s efforts included many paid canvassers who faked their work and said they knocked on doors they had not visited. Several Wired reports alleged that some of these paid advertising employees worked in poor conditions, including sitting in the back of a rented U-Haul van and facing threats to meet unworkable quotas. Advertiser were fired according to the Wired report that led to it a lawsuit against America PAC.

A spokesperson for America PAC declined to comment on the file for this story.

Musk, meanwhile, hinted at this in a conversation on election night