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The political group founded by billionaire Elon Musk to boost former President Donald Trump’s campaign is hiring canvassers in Bangor and spending on an early voting drive aimed at ousting U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine’s 2nd District.
Musk, who is the world’s richest man, was already a major figure in the political world as the co-founder of Tesla and owner of X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. His work in starting America PAC has made him a major part of Trump’s 2024 campaign.
The news: America PAC, a super PAC that can spend unlimited amounts of money to support and oppose candidates, was founded in May. Musk shot down early reports that he would spend up to $45 million per month on its activities. As of June, he had not donated to the group.
The group’s activities became clearer over the past week, when Bloomberg reported that it has spent $63 million to help Trump in his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris and was hiring door-knockers. It has also spent millions in congressional races, including $342,000 to help state Rep. Austin Theriault, R-Fort Kent, in his race with Golden, according to Insider.
America PAC is funding online ads aimed at encouraging early voting for Theriault. It is also taking applications for canvassers in Bangor along with cities in swing states and congressional districts, including the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan.
The stakes: Trump’s campaign looks to be increasingly reliant on Musk’s group to get out the vote. It fired the vendor doing turnout work in Arizona and Nevada, saying it was not meeting door-knocking targets, according to The Guardian. America PAC is seen as the largest and most ambitious of the political groups emerging to do this kind of work.
The other side: The money and door-knocking help come at a crucial time in the campaign. Trump is favored to win the one elector from Maine’s 2nd District, while Theriault recently led Golden by 3 percentage points in the first public poll of their crucial race.
“Billionaires like Elon Musk think they can buy our elections and control what happens in Washington,” Golden said in a Friday fundraising email.
What’s really happening: The fates of Trump and Theriault are closely linked. Golden narrowly outpolled Trump in 2020 and has kept his seat by winning over a sliver of Republicans toward the middle of the electorate. A big Trump win would boost Theriault’s chances.
