How Big Tech's Midterm Millions Went up in Smoke

Democrats sweep both chambers

Democrats needed a net gain of four Senate seats and three House seats. They exceeded both targets, flipping Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina and Michigan.

Trump's 2024 gains reversed

Trump had won double digits in battleground states in 2024. On election night, those states swung ten points back toward Democrats, undoing all Republican gains from the presidential cycle.

MAGA blames the Iran war

The MAGA base initially blamed Trump for the losses, with figures like Matt Walsh calling him an eighty-year-old lame duck president and the results a political catastrophe of historic proportions.

“An 80-year-old lame duck president”

Hegseth blamed for rosy war reports

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gave Trump glowing reports on the Iran war. Vice President JD Vance and Marco Rubio from State requested their own intelligence briefings because they felt misled.

Musk's $400 million largely wasted

Elon Musk's America PAC spent close to five hundred million dollars this midterm cycle. By Wednesday morning, candidates backed by Musk had lost twenty races and won only one.

Ninety-nine cents on the dollar lost

According to a WIRED analysis, of every traceable dollar Musk put into a race that has been decided, more than ninety-nine cents went to a race that he lost.

Texas was Musk's biggest focus

Musk spent the most time, money and resources in Texas, his home base. Ken Paxton lost by such a wide margin that the spending got Musk nothing in the state.

Musk brand became toxic

Candidates who took America PAC money got tarred with the Musk brand. The association became more toxic than the money could buy their way out of, cancelling out any benefit.

Musk still kingmaker for 2028

For Musk, half a billion dollars is pocket change. The net effect is he can play kingmaker running into twenty twenty-eight. No other Republican will be able to compete with him on money.

AI industry lays groundwork for 2028

Leading the Future, a pro-AI network backed by Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI president Greg Brockman, spent money in Republican and Democratic primaries. They are laying groundwork for twenty twenty-eight.

Data center referendum sweeps nation

Across the country, there were forty ballot measures about AI data center projects.Voters chose to restrict thirty-nine of them.

Data centers unite rural Republicans

Data centers became a galvanizing force in rural communities where they are being built. In communities that traditionally swung Republican, it became a bipartisan effort to oppose them.

Darline Graham tarred as Data Center Darline

In South Carolina, Darline Graham was handpicked by Trump and endorsed by him. She was dubbed Data Center Darline for taking money from data center PACs and lost her race.

Ossoff calls out Silicon Valley in victory

Jon Ossoff won his Senate race in Georgia. In his victory speech, he specifically called out Silicon Valley titans who build bunkers and warned that their AI could cause human extinction.

Election deniers go silent

Hundreds of election deniers were on the ballot. In their most consequential races, many lost. When making concession speeches, they did not mention elections, security, vote rigging or election fraud.

Election denier groups fall silent

Groups backing the election denier movement, including Cleta Mitchell's Election Integrity Network and True to Vote, have been silent. The margins of defeat were so great that contesting made no sense.

Trump's endorsement weakens for Congress

For congressional candidates, Trump's endorsement has weakened. Senators and members of Congress with elections in two years are no longer swayed by threats from White House officials.

JD Vance must pause 2028 plans

JD Vance had his donors lined up and could have announced soon after the midterms. But no Republican candidate can announce now with the stench of these midterms on their coattails.

Republicans face difficult 2028 timeline

The midterm losses screw up timelines for Republican presidential candidates. JD Vance and Marco Rubio face nuanced decisions about when or if to announce. Most will likely wait six to twelve months.