当得克萨斯州参议院席位的民主党候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科向选民做最后陈述时，他心里想着一个人——埃隆·马斯克。这位亿万富翁已在这场竞选中投入超过1.6亿美元，以反对他。
Elon Musk’s Big Texas Bet Fails to Pay Off As James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Texas’s Senate seat, made his closing pitch to voters, he had one man in mind—Elon Musk. The billionaire had poured more than $160 million into the race to oppose him.
塔拉里科把这笔支出当作激励支持者的口号，将这场竞选描绘成选民与大金主之间的对决。“这是大卫对阵歌利亚，”他在一场最后集会上对支持者说。
Talarico used the spending as a rallying cry to his base, framing the race as one between voters and big money. “It’s David versus Goliath,” he said to supporters at a closing rally.
马斯克——这位商业帝国扎根得克萨斯的亿万富翁和共和党大金主——资助了一连串广告，抨击塔拉里科并支持得克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿，后者是共和党的参议院候选人。总体而言，共和党在广告上的支出约为民主党的两倍。
Musk—the billionaire and Republican megadonor whose business empire is anchored in Texas—funded a flurry of ads bashing Talarico and supporting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the GOP’s nominee for Senate. In all, Republicans outspent Democrats on ads by roughly two to one.