The Elon Musk-backed America PAC has spent thousands of dollars advertising on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X to support former President Donald Trump’s campaign. According to impressions. All of the ads targeted swing states: Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin.
Musk first endorsed Trump immediately after the assassination attempt on the former president in July in Butler, Pennsylvania. Musk has since said he is “completely on board” with his support for Trump and appeared at a second rally in Butler earlier this month. “This election is the most important election of our lifetime,” Musk said at the time. “This is not just any election.” It was part of Musk’s (and the US PAC’s) efforts to turn out voters for Trump in swing states.
The America PAC has been a driving force behind voter mobilization for the Trump campaign, developing an app to help pollsters target likely voters. (The effectiveness of this strategy remains to be seen, as pollsters reportedly falsify voter contacts on a large scale.) The PAC has offered $47 for any swing state voter that I would agree to sign a petition supporting the First and Second Amendment. Musk has also said he will give 1 million dollars a day to voters who sign the petition, in a move by election law expert Rick Hasen described as “clearly illegal.”
Federal Election Commission filings released last week revealed that Musk has funneled $75 million to the PAC since July, dwarfing other Silicon Valley donors who back the former president. Musk has also donated to the Building the PAC of America’s futurewhich has run anti-Kamala Harris ads aimed at dissuading Black and Muslim voters, particularly in swing states.
Musk has also used his ownership of X to further promote Trump. In August, Musk sat down with Trump for an interview featured on X Spaces. He has also promoted and shared conspiracy theories pushed by the Trump campaign, including alleging that the Democratic Party would allow undocumented immigrants to vote to win elections.
In an ad that ran between September 27 and October 1, the post said: “Georgia is filling up with illegal immigrants – in just three years, Kamala released more illegal immigrants into our country than nearly three times the population.” from Atlanta. End Kamala’s border mayhem and get your vote out for President Trump today.” The ad links to the website votesafe.org, paid for by America PAC and where voters can check the status of their voter registration and request ballots.
All PAC ads are linked to the @theamericapac X account, which links to the PAC website. Before his appearance at Trump’s October rally in Butler, Musk had appropriated the handle @america for PAC America.
The America PAC has also invested heavily in ads on the Meta, Facebook and Instagram platforms, running more than 250 ads in October alone.
A representative for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
