Elon Musk’s super PAC, America PAC, is spending thousands of dollars to back MAGA-aligned Republican candidates ahead of the midterms, including in two of Arizona’s most hotly contested congressional races.
According to new Federal Election Commission disclosures filed Sept. 4, America PAC spent more than $24,000 combined backing candidates in Arizona’s 1st and 6th congressional districts, part of nearly $2.9 million in independent expenditures the PAC reported spending on House and Senate races nationally last week.
The Sept. 4 filing was America PAC’s second midterm disclosure in three days. Its first filing totaled roughly $800,000, almost entirely for Senate races. The Friday night filing added $2.9 million, with nearly half of it going toward the Texas Senate race, according to CNN. It comes after Speaker Mike Johnson met Musk in Austin on Aug. 28 seeking midterm money ahead of the November elections, according to Politico.
It’s not the first time Musk has put his wealth behind candidates. In 2024, Musk spent more than $260 million supporting Trump and other Republicans. While the money could help the GOP candidates in the short term, it’s unclear how the world’s richest man pouring money into local races will land with Arizona voters ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Where the money went
Musk’s PAC spent $12,220 on printed mailers supporting Republican Jay Feely, a former Arizona Cardinals kicker running against former state lawmaker and ER doctor Amish Shah (D) in the 1st Congressional District, a swing district Democrats have been eyeing for years. The seat is open for the first time in more than a decade after Rep. David Schweikert (R-Scottsdale) dropped his reelection bid to run for governor, a race he lost in July to US Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Gilbert).
Feely, a longtime Musk fan, has made his custom-wrapped Tesla Cybertruck with the license plate, “THXELON,” part of his campaign. According to his campaign finance report, Feely paid $4,500 to Prodigy Wraps of Mesa for the customized design.
America PAC spent the same amount—$12,220—supporting US Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Tucson) who is running in a toss-up district, according to the Cook Political Report, against Navy and Marine Corps veteran JoAnna Mendoza. A June poll commissioned by the Democratic-aligned House Majority PAC found Mendoza slightly ahead of Ciscomani at 47% to 45%, underscoring how competitive the race has become.
Musk, a far-right conservative with an on again off again relationship with Trump, led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in early 2025, a short-lived initiative that cut federal spending and restructured government agencies. More than 260,000 federal workers left government service in 2025 because of layoffs, resignations, retirements, and a hiring freeze tied to DOGE-driven cuts, according to the Office of Management and Budget. In March 2025, a federal judge ordered several agencies to reinstate thousands of workers found to have been illegally fired.
“This is why I am thrilled to join the DOGE Caucus to work closely with President-elect Trump’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency to reduce waste, cut unnecessary red-tape, streamline bloated government bureaucracies, safeguard taxpayer dollars, and put America back on the path of fiscal responsibility,” Ciscomani said in a 2024 statement.
DOGE-era cuts to Department of Veterans Affairs staffing also hit southern Arizona, where veterans in Ciscomani’s district have reported longer wait times.
Will it work with voters?
Arizona’s 1st Congressional District leans slightly Republican with a sizable block of independent voters who could turn the district blue for the first time in years. District voters backed Democrat Katie Hobbs for governor in 2022 and Democrat Ruben Gallego for US Senate in 2024 — both over Republican Kari Lake — while also voting for Trump in 2024.
Feely’s embrace of Musk could be a liability as Trump’s standing in Arizona slides. A Noble Predictive Insights poll released Aug. 27 found 39% of Arizona registered voters approve of the president’s job performance and 58% disapprove—his lowest mark in the pollster’s tracking—with voters giving him his worst scores on the economy and the conflict with Iran, according to KTAR.
Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, too, is nearly evenly split—Trump won it by less than a point in 2024—and Trump’s economic policies, backed by Ciscomani, could end up hurting the congressman’s re-election bid, according to GOP consultant Chuck Coughlin.
National Democrats are seizing on the spending, casting the candidates’ ties to Trump and Musk as a liability in Arizona’s battleground districts.
“Jay Feely has made it clear he’s running to fight for Donald Trump and his billionaire allies, not for working Arizonans,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Lindsay Reilly said. “Voters are looking for an independent voice, not a Trump lackey who’s funded by Elon Musk.”
