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Democrats flip House and Senate, and Elon Musk's money mostly backed losers
Musk was the biggest individual donor of the 2026 midterms, and voters also restricted 39 of 40 data center ballot measures.
A double flip that cleared the bar
Democrats flipped both the House and the Senate in the 2026 midterms, and Elon Musk backed Republicans in 106 House and Senate races. [1][2] Readers of Tech & Apps who follow Musk or the data center fight have a stake in both stories. [1][2]
Democrats needed a net gain of four Senate seats and three House seats, and they exceeded both targets. [1] Battleground states that Trump won by double digits swung about 10 points back toward Democrats on election night. [1]
Democrats picked up seats in Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina and Michigan. [1]
Safe seats that were not safe
Trump handpicked and endorsed Darline Graham to win the South Carolina Senate race. [1] She ended up losing it. [1]
Cindy Hyde-Smith, a long-time senator once considered a very safe incumbent, was losing in Mississippi, and that race had not yet been called. [1] In Arizona, Mark Lamb was considered a certainty to win, and his race still had not been resolved. [1]
In Texas, a Senate seat and the governorship both flipped blue with large margins. [2]
Where the blame is landing
The MAGA base is pinning the midterm losses on Trump and the Iran war. [1] People in the administration are blaming Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense (Secretary of War), for encouraging Trump for months to continue the war. [1]
After the election, Trump blamed the quality of the candidates and the fact that he was not on the ballot. [1] He also blamed Fox News, saying it platformed a lot of Democrats. [1]
Right-wing podcaster Matt Walsh called Trump an 80-year-old lame duck president. [1] Walsh also called the election results a political catastrophe of historic proportions. [1]
Musk's money and his record
Musk was the election's single largest individual donor by a vast margin, more than three times the second-place donors Dick and Liz Uihlein. [2] According to a CNBC report, he funneled around $225 million to Texas. [2]
As of the article's writing, 18 of the Musk-backed candidates had won, primarily in extremely safe red areas. [2] Another 45 Musk-backed races were lost and 43 were yet to be called. [2] He suffered big losses in Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Kansas and Iowa, among other states. [2]
Steve Rattner posted that 98% of the money Musk spent on specific candidates went to losers. [2]
What Musk said before and after
Musk warned that a Democratic win would signal the end of democracy in any meaningful sense of the word. [2] He also claimed that Senate-elect James Talarico in Texas would trans kids. [2] Afterward, Musk posted that his election-interfering space lasers did not work this time. [2]
Roughly 22 months before the midterms, Musk was handing out Roman salutes and gutting government agencies. [2] Elon Musk is currently worth around $898 billion. [2]
The data center referendum
Voters restricted 39 of 40 data center ballot measures, which WIRED called the data center referendum. [1]
What this means for you
If you follow tech politics, two items are worth checking. Voters restricted 39 of 40 data center ballot measures. [1] Musk-backed races were still being counted, with 43 yet to be called as of the article's writing. [2]
The Mississippi and Arizona races had also not been resolved. [1]
Sources
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