A mysterious super PAC that doubles as a pro-solar energy outfit is funding some of the most knives-out attack ads of the midterms season. A mysteriously named political action committee has started running ads reminding voters in Colorado about that time GOP representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado and her date were caught on camera in 2023 getting handsy during a performance of the musical Beetlejuice . That same PAC is producing a spot hitting Anthony Constantino, a Trumpist congressional candidate in upstate New York, because someone used his sticker-printing company to briefly make stickers that read, " Kill the Police ." Attack ads are everywhere in the last month ahead of November's election. But these spots are a little different.

Follow this section to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens. Follow this tag to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW?

Backed by Silicon Valley titans, Leading the Future has raised huge sums to promote pro-AI candidates on both side of the aisle. The Spanish Springs shopping center in Sparks, Nevada, hosts many businesses, including a Spirit Halloween, a hearing aid supplier, and a Vietnamese restaurant. It's also home to a consulting agency that's received millions of dollars from one of the biggest pro-AI super PAC networks ahead of November's midterm elections . The problem is that the company--Lantern Production Consultants LLC--doesn't seem to exist anywhere beyond a post office box in the Spanish Springs shopping complex. Lantern Production Consultants has been paid around $20 million since last year by Think Big, part of a network of pro-AI super PACs funded by the Leading the Future PAC, for a wide array of services, including polling, digital advertising, research, and strategy, according to federal campaign finance records reviewed by WIRED.

This week on, we discuss where Elon Musk's PAC is spending millions, the latest ideology Trump claims is dangerous, and the backlash against the designer behind Muse's logo. This week on, Zoë Schiffer and Leah Feiger dive into how Elon Musk's America PAC is spending millions on the most consequential Senate races of the 2026 midterms--and how most of that money goes to opposing Democrats rather than supporting Republicans. They also break down effective altruism, the once-niche philosophy now at the center of the AI safety debate, and why the Trump administration has called it a dangerous ideology. Plus, they discuss the backlash against the graphic designer who created the logo for Meta's AI assistant, Muse. Elon Musk's America PAC Is Spending Big on the Midterms. Elon Musk's America PAC Is Quietly Funding November's Most Consequential Elections Write to us at [email protected] . You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how: If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link . We wanted to share with you that is a finalist for not one or two, but three Signal Awards. The judges pick who wins, but listeners also have a say with the listener's choice vote. You can go to the links we included in the show notes and vote for us. We promise it takes just a minute and your vote goes a long way. This week we're doing a deep dive into how Elon Musk's America PAC has spent millions of dollars to influence some of the most consequential races this midterm season.

Thank you for joining me. Elon Musk is stumping hard for Donald Trump. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has funded a pro-Trump political action committee with tens of millions of dollars and planned a packed campaign schedule to boost the former president in Pennsylvania. He speaks to Trump multiple times per week and has urged other billionaires to endorse the Republican candidate en masse in private gatherings, according to the New York Times. Taken together, Musk's actions amount to something unprecedented in modern times – a man who is both the richest in the world and owner of an influential means of mass communication throwing all his weight behind a political candidate.

Elon Musk, one of the world's richest men, has gone "Deep MAGA." The billionaire owner of X--the "everything app"--endorsed Donald Trump seconds after the former president was nearly assassinated in July, and within a few days was hatching plans to spend 45 million to get Trump elected. On Saturday, Musk joined the former president on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he did his signature hop (which is vaguely in the shape of an X), and predicted that if Kamala Harris is elected there will be no more elections in the United States. Musk has a habit of making predictions that don't amount to much. It is one of the defining facets of his personality, up there with scientific racism and being a guy with a signature hop. You can go online and watch a supercut of him promising fully autonomous self-driving cars every year since 2014.

Five secretaries of state plan to send a letter to Elon Musk calling on the billionaire owner of X to make changes to the social media platform's Grok AI chatbot after it gave users misinformation about Kamala Harris appearing on the 2024 White House ballot in certain states. Grok told users that the ballots were "locked and loaded" and that "the ballot deadline has passed for several states". "So, if you're planning to run for president in any of these states, you might want to check if you've already missed the boat. But hey, there's always 2028, right?" the chatbot told users. But the ballot deadlines in the nine states listed by Grok – Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington – have not passed.