Elon Musk is pledging to pour US$45 million a month into a pro-Donald Trump political group, a move that would flood the Republican nominee’s re-election effort with cash through the November election.

Musk’s planned cash infusion could help build Trump’s fundraising advantage over President Joe Biden, who has suffered from a donor revolt in recent weeks, with some calling for him to step aside for a new nominee. The billionaire entrepreneur endorsed Trump in a post on X after the former president was wounded while addressing a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening. 

Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale and crypto billionaires Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss are among other big donors to the group, America PAC, which is working to reach out to voters to convince them to show up to the polls in November.

The super political action committee raised US$8.8 million in the second quarter, spent US$7.8 million and started July with a little less than US$1 million cash on hand, according to its most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). 

Musk - who didn’t contribute until July, according to a person familiar with the matter - wasn’t listed in the report, which includes donations made between the PAC’s founding on May 22 and the end of June.

Lonsdale gave US$1 million through his company Lonsdale Enterprises Inc. The Winklevoss twins each gave US$250,000. Other donors include Joe Craft, the chief executive officer of Alliance Resource Partners, who gave US$1 million. His wife, Kelly Craft, was the US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump. 

Douglas Leone of Sequoia Capital gave US$1 million, as did Florida restaurateur James Liautaud. 

The donations show the growing momentum Trump has among big donors in the technology and financial worlds, which started after his May 30 conviction by a Manhattan jury on felony charges related to hush-money payments to an adult-film star. Venture capitalist David Sacks hosted a fundraiser for Trump on June 6 that raised US$12 million. 

Citadel’s Ken Griffin and Paul Singer, the founder of Elliott Investment Management, who have both been critics of Trump, met with the former president to discuss donating to his White House bid. Neither man has made a commitment to donate.

Biden’s disastrous performance in his June 27 debate with Trump, which plunged the Democratic Party into an internecine struggle between his supporters and those who would prefer a different standard bearer, accelerated the move to Trump.

America PAC is working mostly behind the scenes to bolster the Trump campaign’s ground game. 

Though FEC disclosures don’t detail where the work is occurring, canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts are conducted most intensively in key battleground states that will determine the outcome of the election. 

Democrats have invested heavily in field offices and staff in swing states, moves Biden regularly touts on the stump.

A super-PAC matching those efforts on Trump’s behalf gives Republicans a major cash advantage to spend official campaign money elsewhere, in what is shaping up to be the most expensive presidential election in US history.

Among outside organisations backing Trump, America PAC is the biggest spender on direct voter contacts. It has spent US$15.8 million so far, with US$13.1 million of that going for field operations, federal records show. It has also paid for digital media, texting and phone calls to reach voters.

The group focuses on door-to-door persuasion and get-out-the-vote efforts. A recent ruling by the FEC allows super-PACs to coordinate with campaigns on voter outreach.

  - Bloomberg