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In the US midterm elections, billionaires like Musk invested heavily in several campaigns, but lost one after another, showing that money cannot influence the will of voters; There may still be some exceptions to California’s billionaire tax referendum.
Some of the richest people in American politicsmidterm elections They invested large sums of money to personally participate in elections or spent large sums of money to support certain candidates, but the result was almost complete defeat. This was the biggest blow to the power of money in the political arena in American history. It also highlighted that money is not everything. After all, the will of the voters cannot be completely controlled by rich people spending money.
According to a New York Times analysis,Tesla CEO Musk istexas Over $200 million was spent to help Republican Ken Paxton run for Senate, but Democrat James Tallarico ultimately won.
In Ohio, biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy invested more than $36 million in personal funds to run for governor, but ultimately lost to Democrat Amy Acton.
Georgia Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the gubernatorial election by defeating Republican billionaire Rick Jackson, who spent more than $200 million of his personal wealth on the campaign.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott had $105.7 million in campaign funds at the beginning of the year. Despite spending heavily during the campaign, he ultimately lost to Democratic nominee Gina Hinojosa.
“I think this is probably the biggest defeat of the power of money in politics in American history,” said Phillips, founder of the election forecasting website Race to the White House. He said that several US Supreme Court decisions “opened the door to virtually unlimited spending by billionaires and super PACs,” but “Democrats still managed to win the election.”
Phillips estimates that Musk has invested about $450 million in campaign funds. Furthermore, the performance of super political action committees backed by the artificial intelligence (AI) industry in this election was also not ideal. Phillips believes that the results of this election may force Musk and other donors to “reconsider whether to invest so much money in an election” because the results show that “the impact these political donations can have is limited.”
Still, money power may be able to win one of these battles. This is the wealthy tax referendum in California. Proposition 40 calls for a one-time 5% tax on the state’s billionaires. As of late at night on the 3rd, votes were still being counted, with the case trailing, with 43% in favor and 57% against. Proposition 42 (Proposition 42), a counter-referendum backed by billionaires to stop taxing the rich, is currently ahead with about 55% support.
Some of California’s wealthiest residents have spent millions of dollars to stop a billionaire tax bill from passing.
Summary FAQ
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The focus of the article is that billionaires and super political action committees spent a lot of money in the midterm elections, but they failed to achieve the expected victory. They lost several elections one after the other, highlighting that the influence of money is not unlimited.
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Nevin noted that Musk endorsed Ken Paxton in Texas, Ramaswamy personally ran for office in Ohio, and Rick Jackson invested heavily in Georgia. However, most relevant elections were won by Democratic candidates, and the wealthy camp generally lost.
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California’s Proposition 40, which advocates a one-time 5% tax on billionaires, is currently lagging with 43% in favor and 57% opposed. Counter-Proposition 42, supported by the wealthy, is ahead with nearly 55%, showing that the power of money can still achieve some results in this battleground.
