Elon Musk jumps into Texas election

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Elon Musk appears to be jumping back into Texas politics, making the first state-level political donation under his own name in nearly a decade. The Tesla and SpaceX chief gave $1 million to Texas for Lawsuit Reform PAC, the political arm of a powerful pro-business group known for lobbying against what it sees as frivolous lawsuits. The September donation, from the Elon Musk Revocable Trust, was reported in the PAC’s quarterly fundraising report filed this week. Musk’s donation accounted for about a third of the $2.9 million the PAC reported raising, and was the largest gift the group reported. The second largest was from Miriam Adelson, a conservative megadonor who gave $500,000.

The Austin billionaire has moved much of his business empire to Texas and has become increasingly active in Republican politics this election cycle, launching a super PAC supporting Donald Trump and appearing at the former president’s rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend. Musk also gave $289,100 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect House Republicans, in August. The state donation comes after Musk secretly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into an effort to unseat progressive Travis County District Attorney José Garza in the Democratic primary race earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. The paper reported the Musk-backed group that targeted Garza, Saving Austin, is connected to another group now supporting U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s reelection bid, Saving Texas. Texans for Lawsuit Reform is a business-aligned lobbying group co-founded by Dick Weekley, a Houston real estate developer and GOP donor who reportedly helped Musk launch his pro-Trump super PAC.