Elon Musk's America PAC has spent more than $1 million on digital ads and mailers in Michigan over the past week, according to federal filings, escalating outside involvement in a Senate race both parties consider critical to controlling the chamber. The group has not yet spent on broadcast advertising in the state, but its digital and mail spending marks a new phase of national money flowing into the contest between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.
The spending was first reported by The Detroit News, whose reporter Melissa Nann Burke detailed how America PAC is also spending to help Republicans in six other top Senate races. Musk's group has run positive messages about Rogers, including one ad in which a narrator says Rogers “has fought for the people of Michigan” and is “ready to serve families.” The PAC has simultaneously run negative messages about El-Sayed, highlighting his previous remarks on defunding the police, and in one ad a narrator claimed El-Sayed supports sex changes for minors and tells parents they should move on — a characterization El-Sayed's campaign disputes.
According to an August Federal Election Commission disclosure reported by Forbes, America PAC spent $800,475 that month, funneling more than 90% of it into seven competitive Senate races including Michigan, Texas, Maine, Ohio, New Hampshire, Iowa and Alaska. The PAC's biggest single-state August outlays were $248,000 in Texas and $170,000 in Maine, with the group also targeting Democratic Senate hopefuls in Texas, Maine, Ohio and New Hampshire with ads on transgender issues, per the Detroit News report. Musk, who helped elect President Donald Trump and Republicans in 2024 and spent around $290 million in that election cycle according to OpenSecrets, has reportedly told associates he intends to spend $100 million or more this midterm cycle, per reporting cited by the Detroit News. He has also threatened to cut ties with the Republican Party and start a third party.
A Flood of Outside Cash Since the Primary
Musk's spending is a fraction of the money already pouring into Michigan's race. Outside groups have reported $28 million in independent expenditures on the Michigan Senate contest since the August 4 primary, the Detroit News reports. The pro-Rogers Great Lakes Conservatives Fund has spent about $10 million to support him, while the Senate Leadership Fund has put in roughly $10.8 million over the past month, according to public filings. Americans for Prosperity Action has spent about $9 million, and the Sentinel Action Fund has spent at least $3.5 million through Monday, per federal filings, bringing total outside spending to help Rogers to $18.7 million.
Democratic-aligned groups have also mobilized behind El-Sayed, though at a smaller scale. Outside groups have spent $9 million to assist him, including at least $1 million each from LCV Victory Fund, Planned Parenthood Votes, Giffords PAC and AFSCME Working Families Fund. WinSenate has spent $3.7 million in the race. Investigation reports separately found that America PAC spent over $180,000 promoting a “Vote Safe” digital campaign that collects personal and voter registration data while allowing that data to be shared with commercial and political partners, according to Popular Information.
Why the Race Matters Nationally
Republicans currently hold a 53-47 Senate majority, and Michigan's contest is drawing outsized national attention because it's the only open Democratic-held Senate seat up in 2026 located in a state Trump carried in 2024, per Wikipedia's election tracking. The seat opened up after Gary Peters decided not to seek reelection to a third term; Peters had held off Republican John James by 1.7 percentage points in 2020. Rogers, who represented Michigan's 8th Congressional District from 2001 to 2015 and chaired the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence overseeing a $70 billion national intelligence budget, is making his second consecutive Senate bid after losing to Democrat Elissa Slotkin by just 0.34 percentage points — roughly 19,000 votes out of more than 5.4 million cast — in 2024.
Republicans have not won a Michigan Senate election since Spencer Abraham's 1994 victory, a 32-year drought the party is hoping Rogers can end. El-Sayed, a doctor who does not currently practice medicine, won the Democratic nomination in the August 4 primary with 48.5% of the vote, defeating establishment-backed U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens despite losing Michigan's three most populous counties. It was his second statewide bid; he finished second to Gretchen Whitmer in the 2018 gubernatorial primary with 30.3% of the vote. An AARP poll from mid-August showed El-Sayed leading Rogers 48% to 47% overall, while Rogers held a 52% to 43% edge among voters 50 and older — a divide both campaigns are targeting as the outside-money spending intensifies.
Campaigns Trade Accusations
El-Sayed has said medical decisions should remain between parents, a doctor and a patient, pushing back on America PAC's characterization of his position on transition care for minors. His campaign spokesman, Cole Wozniak, said Musk is trying to buy a Senate seat for Rogers and argued that El-Sayed will be sent to the Senate in November to address corruption and support Medicare for All, according to the Detroit News. The race has also featured unrelated flashpoints, including El-Sayed's pointed exchange with Fox host Jesse Watters, in which El-Sayed asked whether Watters himself was circumcised, per Hoodline.
America PAC has also run Facebook and Google ads urging Michigan residents to check their voter registration, part of the broader digital operation the group has deployed across its targeted Senate races. With Democrats needing to flip seats to regain Senate control, strategists in both parties say a loss in Michigan could set back that effort significantly. The scale of spending — now approaching $28 million from outside groups alone since the primary — signals that both parties view the seat as pivotal heading into November.
