Musk's defeat puts the power of political spending to the test | DW News

The world's richest man poured nearly half a billion dollars into the 2026 midterms, making him the cycle's top donor by a wide margin. Yet one of his biggest political investments, the Texas Senate race, ended with Democrat James Talarico defeating Republican Ken Paxton. Does this election suggest that even extraordinary spending has limits, or was this race an exception? We put that question to Jonathan Nagler, Co-Director of NYU's Center for Social Media, AI, and Politics.

#dwcurrentaffairs #usmidterms2026 #elonmusk

Chapters:
00:00 Musk spends hundreds of millions on key races
00:55 James Talarico's message after a landmark win
01:28 Why Musk's strategy failed | Jonathan Nagler
05:55 The Texas fight over AI data centers
09:27 What these results mean for campaign money and US politics

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