Elon Musk jokes about GOP election defeat after spending record sums on party

After Republicans lost the US midterm elections, Elon Musk joked on X that his “election-interfering space lasers” had not worked. Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, while Musk had spent nearly half a billion dollars on Republican efforts, a record for an individual donor in a federal election cycle since 2010. The Senate Leadership Fund used $158 million of Musk’s September donations to support Texas Republican Ken Paxton, who was defeated by Democrat James Talarico. At a victory rally in Austin, Talarico said his campaign had taken on Musk, Donald Trump and the Washington establishment.