Musk’s super PAC spends $600,000 backing Lawler in New York race

Elon Musk’s America Super PAC spent $600,000 to support Republican Mike Lawler’s re-election campaign in New York’s 17th Congressional District, according to Federal Election Commission filings reported by the New York Post. Lawler is running against Democrat Cait Conley.

The Guardian separately reported $500,000 in spending by Musk’s super PAC to back the New York Republican, while Gothamist also reported that $500,000 figure. The reports therefore give different amounts for the super PAC’s support of Lawler: $600,000 in the New York Post’s account and $500,000 in the figures reported by Gothamist and The Guardian.

The sources do not explain whether the figures reflect different filing periods, different categories of spending or another distinction, so they cannot be reconciled from the reported information. Lawler campaign spokesperson Ciro Riccardi said the campaign is legally barred from coordinating with super PACs.

The New York Post said the reported expenditure could indicate that Musk’s PAC might spend more than $1 million in the campaign’s final days, backing Lawler and opposing Conley; that is a projection, not a reported final total. The candidates’ public arguments place the contest in different terms.

In a PIX11 debate, Conley said she supported safeguards against mass firings and protections for workers, and argued that those measures would not be achieved while Musk’s preferred candidate held the seat. The account of her remarks does not describe a specific proposal or vote as the basis for that claim. The New York Post tied its account of the race to data-center policy.

It quoted a claim that Lawler cast the deciding vote for $80 billion in tax breaks for data center operators and supported a measure barring states from regulating data centers and artificial-intelligence operations. The account presents that as a rationale in the campaign debate; it does not independently establish how the vote affected the broader policy landscape.

Outside spending is also part of the contest around Conley. The New York Post reported that 27 outside groups had spent nearly $6.5 million to elect her, naming a teachers’ union super PAC, VoteVets and the League of Conservation Voters among them.

The report also said former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg was spending $80 million to help Democrats regain control of the House and Senate and in other races. Those figures describe separate political spending and do not establish coordination with either campaign.

The next notable question is whether Musk’s PAC makes additional expenditures for or against the candidates, and whether those filings approach the New York Post’s projection of more than $1 million in the campaign’s final days.

The sources also frame the scale differently: the $600,000 and $500,000 reports are not equivalent figures, while the New York Post places the Lawler expenditure alongside spending by outside groups supporting Conley.