Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has rapidly become one of Donald Trump's top political donors, and he is now emerging as one of the Republican presidential nominee's most visible surrogates.
Musk, the world's richest man, has given nearly $75 million to America PAC, the super political action committee he created earlier this year largely to back Trump, new Federal Election Commission filings reveal. Nearly $72 million of that money has already been spent, the disclosure report shows.
The group's massive haul came entirely during the third quarter, between July and September. Musk is the only contributor listed during that period.
The PAC, which was formed in late May, reports having spent a total of $102 million on the presidential race so far, FEC filings show.
Unlike most super PACs, however, America PAC is not spending its money to reserve expensive television air time to run ads. Instead, the group's filings show that it is paying canvassers and funding direct mail, texts and phone banking.
Meanwhile, Musk announced overnight on X, the social media site he bought for $44 billion in 2022, that he will embark on a multiday speaking tour through Pennsylvania, the all-important presidential swing state.
"Tomorrow night through Monday, I will be giving a series of talks throughout Pennsylvania," Musk wrote at 12:26 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
"If you'd like to attend one of my talks, there's no attendance fee. You just need to have signed our petition supporting free speech & right to bear arms & have voted in this election," he wrote.
Musk added in a follow up: "To clarify, you need have voted in Pennsylvania."
That petition requires signers provide personal contact information, including their full names, cellphone numbers, email addresses and mailing addresses. That voter information is extremely valuable to campaigns and political groups, who use it to hone their advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts.
Further details about the events were not immediately clear. Emails to Musk and his associates were not immediately returned.
The pair of headlines underscore Musk's shift to the political right and his further entrenchment in Trump's bid to defeat Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Musk publicly endorsed Trump on July 13, minutes after the former president survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
When Trump returned to that site for another rally in early October, Musk joined him on stage wearing a black "Make America Great Again" hat and enthusiastically declared himself to be "Dark MAGA."
In an interview last week on former Fox News opinion host Tucker Carlson's show on X, Musk said that he created America PAC "really to support the core values that I believe in."
He named a number of broad terms such free speech, safe cities and "self protection," calling them "very obvious centrist positions."
