An American PAC backed by Elon Musk has spent thousands of dollars advertising on Elon Musk’s X-owned social media platform to support former president Donald Trump’s campaign. According to X’s political ad disclosure data, between July 8 and October 1 America PAC ran 59 ads, costing more than $166,000 and generating, by X’s metrics, 32,058,424 impressions. All ads targeted at swing states: Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, and Wisconsin.
Musk first endorsed Trump immediately following the July assassination attempt on the former president in Butler, Pennsylvania. Since then, Musk has said he is “absolute” in his support for Trump, and appeared at a second rally in Butler earlier this month. “This election is the most important election of our lives,” Musk said at the time. “This is not a normal election.” It was part of Musk’s—and America PAC’s—efforts to get votes for Trump in swing states.
America PAC has been a catalyst for voter mobilization in the Trump campaign, developing an app to help campaigners target potential voters. (The effectiveness of this tactic remains to be seen, as campaigners reportedly faked voter contact at a high rate.) The PAC offered $47 to any state voters willing to sign a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments. Musk also said he would give $1 million a day to voters who signed the petition, in a statement that election law expert Rick Hasen described as “blatantly illegal.”
Federal Election Commission filings released last week revealed that Musk has contributed $75 million to the PAC since July, making some Silicon Valley donors back the former president. Musk also donated to Building America’s Future PAC, which ran anti-Kamala Harris ads aimed at turning off Black and Muslim voters, especially in emerging states.
Musk also used his X identity to further promote Trump. In August, Musk sat down with Trump for an interview held at X Spaces. He also promoted and re-shared conspiracy theories promoted by the Trump campaign, including saying that the Democratic Party would allow undocumented immigrants to vote in order to win the election.
In one ad that ran between September 27 and October 1, the post read, “Georgia is overrun with illegal immigrants: In just 3 years, Kamala released almost 3 more illegal immigrants into our country than Atlanta. End the Kamala Riots and claim your vote for President Trump today. This ad links to the votesafe.org website, which is paid for by America PAC and where voters can check their voter registration status and request ballots.
All PAC ads are linked to the @theamericapac X account, which links to the PAC website. Prior to his appearance at Trump’s October rally in Butler, Musk shared the @america handle for America’s PAC.
America PAC also invested heavily in ads on the Meta platforms, Facebook and Instagram, running more than 250 ads in October alone.
A representative for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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