马斯克成中期选举最大已知金主：7月以来投入逾2.76亿美元，本选举周期累计约3.66亿美元
纽约——距11月3日中期选举约三周，科技富豪埃隆·马斯克已成为本届选举最大的已知个人金主。据《纽约时报》率先报道、美联社与路透社10月12日跟进确认，马斯克自今年7月以来已向共和党团体及其自建的超级政治行动委员会投入逾2.76亿美元，力图帮助共和党保住国会两院多数；计入此前投入，他在本选举周期（2025年1月1日起）累计投入约3.66亿美元，超过他2024年选举周期约2.9亿美元的投入。上述数字由马斯克的超级PAC「America PAC」发言人安德鲁·罗密欧（Andrew Romeo）向《纽约时报》确认，第三季度的完整申报将于本周联邦申报截止日公开。
2.76亿美元的去向已有明细：1.58亿美元给参议院领袖基金（Senate Leadership Fund）——支持共和党参议员候选人的主要超级PAC，这笔捐款是美国历史上金额最大的单笔已知政治捐款之一，超过其民主党对手参议院多数派PAC同季度筹得的约1.51亿美元；逾7600万美元给马斯克自建的America PAC；2000万美元给支持众议院共和党人的国会领袖基金；1000万美元给支持德州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿竞选参议员的孤星自由PAC；1000万美元给共和党州长协会；200万美元给共和党总检察长协会。《纽约时报》同时指出，马斯克还通过不披露捐款人的团体投入了更多资金，因此其实际总投入高于已知数字。
America PAC已重建大规模拉票网络，与其在2024年帮助特朗普胜选时的运作类似。据报道，该组织聚焦7场竞争激烈的参议院选举与近36场众议院选举，重点动员平时不参加中期选举投票的保守派选民；10月5日当周已部署近3000名付费拉票员，全国累计敲门约650万户。
这一投入方向与马斯克去年的表态形成转折：他去年5月曾表示今后将大幅减少政治支出，称自己「已经做得够多了」。此后他与特朗普总统一度公开不和、并离开其在政府效率部的职务，但两人关系此后修复；上周，特朗普向马斯克颁发了国家科学奖章。民主党方面回应称，共和党正试图用巨额资金掩盖其候选人与经济议题上的弱势；共和党方面则称这些投入让本党在选战最后阶段有机会把信息传递给选民。
来源：据《纽约时报》首报及美联社、路透社10月12日报道整理。
Musk Becomes the Midterms' Biggest Known Donor: Over $276 Million Since July, About $366 Million This Election Cycle
NEW YORK — With about three weeks to go before the November 3 midterm elections, tech billionaire Elon Musk has quietly become the biggest known individual donor of the cycle. First reported by The New York Times and confirmed in follow-up reporting by the Associated Press and Reuters on October 12, Musk has put more than $276 million into Republican groups and his own super PAC since July, in an effort to help Republicans keep their House and Senate majorities. His total for the 2025–26 election cycle, which began on January 1, 2025, stands at roughly $366 million — more than the roughly $290 million he spent in the 2024 cycle. The figures were confirmed to the Times by Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Musk's super PAC, America PAC, ahead of this week's federal filing deadline, when third-quarter disclosures become public.
The breakdown of the $276 million has been reported in detail: $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC for Republican Senate candidates — one of the largest single known political donations in U.S. history, and more than the $151 million its Democratic counterpart, Senate Majority PAC, raised in the same quarter; more than $76 million to America PAC, the super PAC Musk founded; $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund for House Republicans; $10 million to the Lone Star Liberty PAC backing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's Senate bid; $10 million to the Republican Governors Association; and $2 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association. The Times also reported that Musk has given additional money through groups that do not disclose their donors, so his actual total is higher than the known figure.
America PAC has rebuilt the large-scale turnout operation it ran to help elect President Donald Trump in 2024. It is focused on seven competitive Senate races and nearly three dozen House contests, targeting conservative voters who typically skip midterms; it deployed nearly 3,000 paid canvassers during the week of October 5 and reports knocking on about 6.5 million doors nationwide.
The spending marks a turnaround from last May, when Musk said he intended to do much less political spending in the future, remarking that he had "done enough." He later fell out with Trump while leaving his post running the Department of Government Efficiency, but the two have since reconciled, and Trump presented Musk with the National Medal of Science last week. Democrats responded that Republicans are hoping vast sums of cash can mask unpopular candidates and an unpopular economy, while Republicans said the investments give their candidates a fighting chance to get their message out in the final stretch.
Source: Compiled from The New York Times' original report and Associated Press and Reuters reporting on October 12.
图片来源：图：埃隆·马斯克在公开活动上。摄影：Gage Skidmore，CC BY-SA 3.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
