‘This might just be the biggest defeat for big money in politics’: Billionaires poured hundreds of millions into Tuesday’s races and still lost

On Tuesday, billionaires poured hundreds of millions of dollars into American political races, yet their candidates lost in several key elections. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton for the Senate, despite Elon Musk's $200 million investment in Paxton. Ohio saw Democrat Sherrod Brown win the Senate race over Republican Jon Husted, after focusing on AI data centers and energy costs as campaign issues.

In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms secured a governor's victory over Republican billionaire Rick Jackson. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who started the year with $105.7 million in his campaign war chest, conceded to Democrat Gina Hinojosa. "This might just be the biggest defeat for big money in politics in American history," said Logan Phillips, founder of the election forecasting site Race to the White House.

The Supreme Court's decisions allowing unlimited spending from billionaires and super PACs did not sway the outcomes, Phillips argued. He pointed to grassroots individual donations from regular people as the real predictor of success. Talarico emerged as the most prolific fundraiser, outpacing his Republican opponent in fundraising efforts.

The AI industry's super PACs also struggled, with American Mission's $2.7 million contribution to Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina falling short in her defeat to Democrat Annie Andrews. Phillips expects the results to deter billionaires like Elon Musk from heavily investing in future campaigns, suggesting there is a limit to the influence of such donations.

However, a ballot measure in California is still undecided, with billionaire-backed Prop 42 leading Prop 40, a tax on billionaires, by a narrow margin.