A rivalry between the world’s richest person and one of the most prominent Democratic candidates is intensifying during the final stage of this year’s midterm elections.
On the campaign trail in Texas, James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate, is increasingly criticizing Elon Musk over his role in the race. Mr. Musk made a huge contribution this fall to a group aligned with Ken Paxton, Mr. Talarico’s Republican opponent, recent campaign finance disclosures showed.
The race in Texas, a pivotal contest that could determine control of the Senate, is now in part a test of whether Democrats can turn Mr. Musk into a political boogeyman and whether his infusion of cash can lift a Republican candidate who has lagged behind his opponent in fund-raising.
“Elon Musk wants our land. He wants our water. He wants our tax dollars,” Mr. Talarico said at a rally in San Antonio on Saturday, as the crowd booed in disapproval of Mr. Musk. “He wants his very own personal United States senator.”
Representatives for Mr. Musk and Mr. Paxton did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Talarico has stepped up his attacks on Mr. Musk after campaign finance filings revealed earlier this month that Mr. Musk, a Texas resident who has major business interests in the state, donated $158 million to a Republican super PAC that then flipped the same amount to a group allied with Mr. Paxton.
At the University of Texas on Friday, Mr. Talarico said Mr. Musk was trying to “stop the movement that we are building in our state.” The day before that, Mr. Talarico’s campaign released a digital advertisement accusing Mr. Paxton of being beholden to Mr. Musk. “Let’s remind Elon: Texas is not for sale,” says the narrator of the ad.
Mr. Talarico is betting that Mr. Musk’s connection to the contest will hurt Mr. Paxton. It’s not the first time Democrats have made such a wager.
Last year, Mr. Musk and allied groups spent more than $20 million boosting a conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate, who ended up losing to a liberal opponent. Mr. Musk’s efforts, which included campaigning in the state, may have backfired, inflaming Democratic anger as the race increasingly became a referendum on his influence in U.S. government and the slashing of the federal work force that he oversaw.
Other candidates have also tried to channel anger against an onslaught of outside spending to their advantage.
During Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who ultimately won the party’s nomination, repeatedly attacked his rival, Representative Haley Stevens, over the more than $30 million that groups linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee poured into ads boosting her run.
In polls and focus groups in Texas, voters have voiced concerns about corruption and the influence of the wealthy and powerful in politics, said Matt Angle, a Democratic strategist in the state. He argued that Mr. Musk “has made himself the face of” what some voters perceive as the Republican Party’s fealty to megadonors.
At Mr. Talarico’s rally on Saturday, the crowd roared when he brought up Mr. Musk and cheered loudly when he said his own campaign is “funded by 1.3 million individuals who have donated their hard-earned money.”
Mr. Musk has not campaigned with Mr. Paxton. But he has publicly endorsed him and has used his platform on X, the social media company he owns, to attack Mr. Talarico with growing frequency. Mr. Musk posted on X about Mr. Talarico 18 times last week, claiming Mr. Talarico “hates Texas” and disparaging him in other ways.
JT Ennis, a spokesman for Mr. Talarico, said Mr. Musk’s immense spending in the race “isn’t working, so he’s throwing a tantrum.”
For his part, Mr. Paxton speaks about Mr. Musk rarely, if ever, on the trail. But in a recent fund-raising email to supporters, Mr. Paxton praised him.
“Democrats are trying to buy President Trump’s Senate Majority,” Paxton says in the Thursday email, adding, “But Elon Musk REFUSES to let them get away with it.” Mr. Paxton wrote that he was “proud to have Elon’s support at this do-or-die moment in the election.”
Mr. Talarico’s campaign has vastly out-raised Mr. Paxton’s. And for months, Mr. Paxton and his allies had relatively little money to spend on advertisements. But in September, Mr. Trump’s super PAC and a series of groups linked to Mr. Musk and Senate Republicans dumped tens of millions of dollars into outside advertising for Mr. Paxton, hoping to rescue the Republican’s bid to hold the seat for his party.
Mr. Talarico has eschewed corporate PAC money, largely raising small-dollar donations. When criticized for billionaires’ donations to super PACs backing his run, he has responded that outside groups cannot coordinate with campaigns.
At a Paxton rally in Georgetown on Saturday, Republicans had mixed feelings about Mr. Musk’s support. George Gutierrez, 72, who is semiretired and lives in Round Rock, said he was comfortable with the alliance between Mr. Musk and Mr. Paxton.
Bobby Bagwell, 54, expressed discomfort with the idea of the ultrawealthy playing a major role in financing campaigns. But he said it was disingenuous of Mr. Talarico to criticize wealthy donors getting involved in politics when they have given to groups supporting his candidacy.
“I don’t like the idea of a bunch of superrich billionaires throwing their money around,” said Mr. Bagwell, a home-builder who lives in Leander.
Lauren McGaughy contributed reporting from Austin and Georgetown, Texas, and Marisela Cruz contributed reporting from San Antonio.
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