Elon Musk’s Ties to Texas Republicans Go Much Deeper Than the Midterms

Elon Musk has enjoyed a cozy relationship with top Texas brass for years. And in recent weeks, as the midterm elections approach and Musk’s financial support of the Texas GOP has become virtually limitless, that relationship has gone under the microscope.

多年来，埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）一直与德克萨斯州高层保持着密切的关系。近几周，随着中期选举临近，马斯克对德州共和党的财政支持几乎变得无上限，这种关系也因此受到了严格审视。

While polls suggest that a number of races in deep-red Texas are looking dizzyingly close, Federal Election Commission filings show that Musk has given at least $158 million to super PACs supporting Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s bid for Senate, and last week Musk explicitly endorsed him in a post on X. “The fate of Texas and America is at stake,” Musk wrote. “Vote for @KenPaxtonTX today.”

尽管民调显示德州这个深红州的多场选战竞争异常激烈，但联邦选举委员会的文件显示，马斯克已向支持德州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿（Ken Paxton）竞选参议员的超级政治行动委员会捐赠了至少1.58亿美元。上周，马斯克还在X上明确发文支持他，写道：“德州和美国的命运岌岌可危，今天请投票给@KenPaxtonTX。”

Newly released state campaign filings also show that Musk also donated $5,000,000 to Governor Greg Abbott’s bid for reelection, making him his single largest donor.

最新公布的州竞选文件还显示，马斯克向州长格雷格·阿博特（Greg Abbott）的连任竞选捐赠了500万美元，使其成为阿博特最大的单一捐赠者。

Abbott’s relationship with Musk has been the subject of public interest for years. State representative Gina Hinojosa, who is running against Abbott, recently sued to view, in full, 1,400 pages of the governor’s correspondences with Musk. Abbott has been trying to block their release for some time; his office has described the communications as too “intimate and embarrassing” to be made public. This week, a judge ruled that Abbott had illegally “obstructed and continues to obstruct” Hinojosa’s right to inspect the documents in her capacity as a state lawmaker and ordered their release to her. Abbott has since appealed; a hearing is scheduled for November 2, one day before the election.

阿博特与马斯克的关系多年来一直是公众关注的焦点。正在与阿博特竞选的州众议员吉娜·伊诺霍萨（Gina Hinojosa）最近提起诉讼，要求查阅州长与马斯克之间1400页通信的全部内容。阿博特一直试图阻止这些文件公开；其办公室称这些通信过于“私密且令人尴尬”，不宜公开。本周，法官裁定阿博特非法“阻挠并继续阻挠”伊诺霍萨作为州议员查阅文件的权利，并下令将其移交给她。阿博特随后提出上诉，听证会定于选举前一天的11月2日举行。

State representative James Talarico, who is running against Paxton for Senate, has campaigned on his opponents’ checkered past. As attorney general, Paxton has been indicted on felony securities fraud charges (which he settled without a plea), was accused by whistleblowers of using his office to benefit the financial interests of a political donor, and was impeached (though later acquitted).

正在与帕克斯顿竞选参议员的州众议员詹姆斯·塔拉里科（James Talarico）在竞选中重点抨击了对手劣迹斑斑的过去。作为总检察长，帕克斯顿曾因重罪证券欺诈指控被起诉（后在未认罪的情况下达成和解），被举报人指控利用职权为政治捐赠者的经济利益谋利，并曾遭到弹劾（尽管后来被判无罪）。

And at a campaign event on Monday in El Paso, Talarico raised questions about Paxton and Musk’s relationship. “Ken Paxton has the ultimate megadonor,” Talarico said. “Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat.”

在周一于埃尔帕索举行的竞选活动中，塔拉里科对帕克斯顿与马斯克的关系提出了质疑。塔拉里科说：“肯·帕克斯顿拥有终极超级捐赠者。埃隆·马斯克正试图买下这个参议院席位。”

But Musk’s business dealings in Texas politics didn’t start with the midterms. For years, he has enjoyed lucrative state contacts, tax breaks, and allyship from Texas leaders. In 2021, Musk moved Tesla’s corporate headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, and SpaceX’s headquarters from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas, in 2024.

然而，马斯克在德州政治中的商业往来并非始于中期选举。多年来，他一直享受着丰厚的州政府合同、税收减免以及德州领导人的盟友关系。2021年，马斯克将特斯拉总部从加州帕洛阿尔托迁至奥斯汀；2024年，他又将SpaceX总部从加州霍桑迁至德州的星际基地（Starbase）。

Musk’s initial relocation to Texas coincided with a shift in operations inside the Texas Attorney General’s office. In the past, lawyers would prepare notices of investigation (administrative subpoenas known as CIDs) based on public complaints or evidence collected, then send them up the chain for approval.

马斯克最初迁往德州时，正值德州总检察长办公室内部运作发生转变。过去，律师会根据公众投诉或收集到的证据准备调查通知（即行政传票，称为CID），然后逐级上报审批。

Sources tell WIRED that from about 2021 onward, lawyers were increasingly instructed by Texas’ executive branch—which included Paxton and Abbott—who and what they were going to investigate, despite internal efforts to steer resources toward more “legitimate” issues. For example, in 2022, eyebrows were raised internally when, the same day Musk sent a letter to Twitter threatening to abandon a $44 billion acquisition agreement over Twitter’s alleged misrepresentation of the number of bots on the platform, Paxton’s office issued a statement asserting that his office would be launching its own investigation against Twitter.

消息人士告诉《连线》（WIRED），从2021年左右开始，尽管内部努力将资源引向更“合法”的问题，但律师们越来越多地受到德州行政部门（包括帕克斯顿和阿博特）的指示，被告知调查的对象和内容。例如，2022年，当马斯克致信推特，威胁称因推特虚报平台机器人数量而要放弃440亿美元的收购协议时，帕克斯顿办公室在同一天发表声明，称其办公室将对推特展开调查，这在内部引起了质疑。

A year later, Paxton once again appeared to use his office to benefit Musk. Musk sued the progressive watchdog Media Matters for defamation after it published an investigation showing that X, under Musk’s ownership, had been placing ads from major brands next to white-nationalist content. Moments after he filed his suit, Paxton’s office announced its own investigation into Media Matters. (Media Matters sued Paxton, asserting that his investigation was brought out of retaliation for its coverage of Musk and X.) In 2024, after Musk filed an antitrust lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers and major brands, accusing them of a conspiracy to pull revenue from X, Paxton announced his own investigation into the organization, accusing them of a “potential anticompetitive scheme to withhold advertising dollars from certain social media platforms.” (He did not mention X by name.)

一年后，帕克斯顿似乎再次利用职权为马斯克谋利。在进步派监督机构“媒体事务”（Media Matters）发布调查报告，指出马斯克旗下的X平台将大品牌的广告投放在白人至上主义内容旁边后，马斯克起诉该机构诽谤。在他提起诉讼后不久，帕克斯顿办公室宣布对“媒体事务”展开调查。（“媒体事务”起诉了帕克斯顿，声称其调查是对该机构报道马斯克和X的报复。）2024年，在马斯克对世界广告主联合会（World Federation of Advertisers）及各大品牌提起反垄断诉讼，指控他们合谋撤回X平台的广告收入后，帕克斯顿宣布对该组织进行调查，指控其存在“可能旨在从特定社交媒体平台扣留广告费用的反竞争计划”。（他并未点名X。）

And when the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section wrote a letter to Musk warning that his America PAC million-dollar sweepstakes program ahead of the presidential election could violate federal election law, Paxton intervened by filing a FOIA request, accusing the government of “intimidation of businessman Elon Musk.”

当司法部公共诚信部门致信马斯克，警告其在总统大选前开展的“美国政治行动委员会”（America PAC）百万美元抽奖活动可能违反联邦选举法时，帕克斯顿通过提交《信息自由法》（FOIA）请求进行干预，指责政府“恐吓商人埃隆·马斯克”。

This summer, Musk’s activities in Texas didn’t slow down: Texas legislators called for an audit after the Texas Broadband Development Office allocated $110 million in grants to Musk’s satellite internet company Starlink; Texas’ Office of the Comptroller recently announced that “Terafab,” Musk’s proposed 100-million-square-foot chip manufacturing facility in Grimes County, was the recipient of a $1.66 billion tax break; and SpaceX has also received around $30 million in state grants.

今年夏天，马斯克在德州的活动并未放缓：在德州宽带发展办公室向马斯克的卫星互联网公司星链（Starlink）拨款1.1亿美元后，德州立法者要求进行审计；德州审计长办公室最近宣布，马斯克计划在格莱姆斯县建设的1亿平方英尺芯片制造工厂“Terafab”获得了16.6亿美元的税收减免；此外，SpaceX还获得了约3000万美元的州政府拨款。