At a raucous election-night gathering on Tuesday, Elon Musk sat two seats away from Donald J. Trump, ready to claim wide credit for his decisive presidential win.
“My America PAC massively improved the Republican ground game in the swing states,” Mr. Musk told the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson in an interview at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s residence and private club in Florida. He posted a meme of himself in the Oval Office to his 203 million followers on X, his social media platform.
His victory lap was the culmination of an effort that began only six months ago and depended on a risky gamble: Mr. Musk’s new super PAC effectively led Mr. Trump’s get-out-the-vote operation in battleground states — and Mr. Trump entrusted a crucial campaign function to a political neophyte.
It is difficult to disentangle Mr. Musk’s ground work from other influences that propelled Mr. Trump to the White House. But there is little doubt that the election was a win not only for Mr. Musk but also big-money politics: An ultrawealthy donor took advantage of America’s evolving campaign-finance system to put his thumb on the scale like never before.
Mr. Musk almost single-handedly funded an effort that cost more than $175 million. His canvassers knocked on close to 11 million doors in presidential battleground states since August, including about 1.8 million in Michigan and 2.3 million in Pennsylvania, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Another $30 million was spent on a large direct-mail program, and about $22 million on digital advertising, including on Trump-friendly mediums like Barstool Sports.
When Mr. Musk first met with political advisers in the spring, he focused on turning out 800,000 to a million “low-propensity” voters in seven battleground states — people, especially in rural areas, who might be inclined to vote for Mr. Trump but who had spotty voting records. It is yet unclear whether Mr. Musk succeeded on that metric, although Mr. Trump claimed a dominating margin in rural areas, a focus of Mr. Musk’s.