Elon Musk has spent more than $500,000 so far on efforts to re-elect Rep. Mike Lawler, the Hudson Valley Republican locked in a competitive race that could determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Lawler, who\u2019s fending off a challenge from Democrat Cait Conley in New York\u2019s 17th Congressional District, is one of the top beneficiaries of Musk\u2019s spending in the House, according to federal disclosure reports.<\/p>\n
The spending is likely to grow in the final two weeks before Election Day. Two years ago, Musk\u2019s America PAC spent $1.7 million on Lawler \u2014 more than any candidate other than President Donald Trump \u2014 with more than $1 million of that coming in the campaign\u2019s final weeks.<\/p>\n
This year, the spending has helped fund digital advertisements on Google, YouTube and Facebook that depict Lawler as a \u201cfighter\u201d<\/a> and Conley, an Army veteran and former counterterrorism official under previous President Joe Biden, as a radical allied with the likes of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.<\/p>\n But the majority of the money has gone toward America PAC\u2019s voter canvassing and get-out-the-vote operations in the district, which are designed to identify pro-Lawler voters and encourage them to get to the polls, often by text message.<\/p>\n \u201cMichael Lawler \u2026 fights higher taxes, fights to lower taxes, fights to deport criminal illegal immigrants,\u201d a narrator says in one Musk-funded ad showing Lawler in boxing gloves before directing viewers to a website instructing them how to register to vote, find their polling place or request a mail-in ballot.<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s spending is a small piece of the more than $16 million that super PACs have spent on the race so far, with both candidates benefitting.<\/p>\n The Congressional Leadership Fund, a group dedicated to electing Republican House members, has spent $6.5 million in the district so far. (Musk has already contributed $10 million to the group\u2019s national efforts.)<\/p>\n Conley has benefited from the House Majority PAC, which pushes for Democratic House candidates and has spent $1.1 million on the race. VoteVets, a group dedicated to electing veterans, has spent about $1.3 million on Conley’s behalf. Other PACs associated with Planned Parenthood, teachers unions and the League of Conservation Voters have also spent on Conley.<\/p>\n Conley\u2019s campaign has focused heavily on cost-of-living issues like grocery and utility costs. She\u2019s vowed to support a public option for health insurance and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. And she has tried to use Musk\u2019s spending to her advantage in her bid to topple the second-term congressmember.<\/p>\n When the America PAC first started spending money on the race last month, Conley<\/a> flagged it in a fundraising appeal.<\/p>\n \u201cElon Musk last night started pouring his super PAC dark money into our district supporting Mike Lawler,\u201d she said in a video posted to social media.<\/p>\n At a debate last week, Conley pointed to Musk\u2019s support for Lawler when asked about federal regulation for artificial intelligence. One of Musk\u2019s companies, SpaceXAI, developed and owns Grok, an AI assistant integrated into X, his social-media platform.<\/p>\n \u201cI \u200ado believe we need to put guardrails in place to make sure there are no mass firings and we’re protecting workers,\u201d Conley said during the PIX11 debate. \u201cThat’s not going to happen as long as you have Elon Musk’s guy sitting in NY-17.\u201d<\/p>\n Ciro Riccardi, Lawler\u2019s campaign manager, noted that the Republican\u2019s campaign can\u2019t coordinate with super PACs by law.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have no say over what America PAC or any other outside group spends in this race,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n But Riccardi criticized Conley for decrying spending by Musk\u2019s PAC as \u201cdark money,\u201d when other super PACs are spending on her behalf.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s hypocrisy,\u201d Riccardi said.<\/p>\n Lawler, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized Conley for her work consulting for an AI company<\/a> known as Primer.ai<\/a>, and failing to explain the type of work she performed.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aShe is the AI candidate for the AI industry,\u201d Lawler said during the debate. \u201cShe’s bought and paid for by them.<\/p>\n Musk, the world\u2019s richest person, has spent more than $276 million on Republican efforts to retain control of Congress since the start of July, according to The New York Times<\/a>. Much of that money has gone toward a handful of contested Senate races, notably Republican Ken Paxton\u2019s campaign in Texas.<\/p>\n According to Federal Election Commission filings, Lawler\u2019s race is the only one in New York to draw spending from Musk\u2019s PAC this year. In 2024, the PAC spent heavily on two New York House races \u2014 Lawler\u2019s 17th District and the 19th District, where Democrat Josh Riley defeated Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro despite Musk\u2019s infusion of cash.<\/p>\n Across the Hudson River, Musk\u2019s PAC has spent $460,000 on Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr.\u2019s race in New Jersey\u2019s 7th District against Democrat Rebecca Bennett, according to the FEC filings.<\/p>\n