Photo via The Guardian

Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Sherman, H. b. C., Kuraev, e. b. I., Bacon, K. W. w. B. M. .. P. b. A., Espitia, M., & Humphreys, e. p. R. (2026, November 5). Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2026/nov/05/was-elon-musk-the-us-midterms-biggest-loser-stateside-with-kai-and-carter

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-11-05 · by Hosted by Carter Sherman, engineered by Ivan Kuraev, Kai Wright with Blake Montgomery . Produced by Anabel Bacon, Monica Espitia, executive producer Rachel Humphreys

Quick Summary

The article discusses how Elon Musk's significant financial contributions to Republican-aligned political action committees during the U.S. midterms failed to yield expected results; Democrats won all five Senate races where Musk’s America PAC heavily supported Republican candidates. The piece explores potential implications of these outcomes on Musk and the tech industry, including questions about the future of AI datacenters and their impact on the economy.
Written by AI on 2026-11-05, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

The U.S. midterm elections on November 3, 2026, saw Republican Ken Paxton narrowly defeat Democrat James Talarico in the closely watched Texas Senate race, despite early voting trends favoring Democrats and a record-breaking \$500 million spent on the campaign. This outcome could determine control of the U.S. Senate for the remainder of Donald Trump’s presidency. Voters also rejected nearly 40 data center projects across multiple states, reflecting growing opposition to such facilities amid environmental concerns raised by Black-led groups like Memphis Community Against Pollution and Young, Gifted & Green in Tennessee.

Written for “Elon Musk's Midterm Losses” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 115 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans left (beta estimate) Confidence high
Leaning: leans left for article 131372 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-11-05

Story

📰 Elon Musk's Midterm Losses
Politics · 116 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 17% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter Same event
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⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 6 claims Outlet record 66/100
Elon Musk’s nearly half a billion dollars in midterms spending was a flop Same event
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Elon Musk hit with blue wave of reality after donating historic $445 million to Republicans for midterm elections Same event
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 29 claims Outlet record 69/100
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Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 15 claims Outlet record 60/100
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Semafor
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 12 claims Outlet record 59/100
US midterms: Spending binge by Musk, crypto and AI hit voter wall Same event
The Straits Times
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 37 claims Outlet record 66/100
US midterm takeaways: Trump’s blame game, Elon’s space lasers and the rest of the world Different event
South China Morning Post
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 62/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of the midterm elections and their outcomes but do not describe the same specific incident.”
Trump frenemy Elon Musk spent nearly $500M on the election - all he got out of it was MAGA losing its power Same event
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 4 of 35 claims Outlet record 59/100
Elon Musk gets little bang for his buck in U.S. midterms, with possible Democratic investigations to come Same event
CBC News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 6 of 29 claims Outlet record 60/100
Tech barons cozied up to Trump. What will they do in newly blue America? Different event
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this Hedges 5 of 51 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A discusses the relationship between tech tycoons and Trump during his presidency, while Article B focuses on Elon Musk's financial losses in the recent US midterm elections.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
6
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
17%
1 of 6 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
116
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
2
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-05 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Hosted by Carter Sherman
3 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
🔮 These four elections could change the world in 10 days – Stateside with Kai and Carter Benjamin Netanyahu is in the fight of his political life.
2026-10-27 · speculative framing · These four elections could change the world in 10 days – Stateside with Kai and Carter
Also by Hosted by Carter Sherman
Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
2026-11-05 · The Guardian
These four elections could change the world in 10 days – Stateside with Kai and Carter
2026-10-27 · The Guardian
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
engineered by Ivan Kuraev
3 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
🔮 These four elections could change the world in 10 days – Stateside with Kai and Carter Benjamin Netanyahu is in the fight of his political life.
2026-10-27 · speculative framing · These four elections could change the world in 10 days – Stateside with Kai and Carter
Also by engineered by Ivan Kuraev
Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
2026-11-05 · The Guardian
These four elections could change the world in 10 days – Stateside with Kai and Carter
2026-10-27 · The Guardian
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
Kai Wright with Blake Montgomery . Produced by Anabel Bacon
2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
Also by Kai Wright with Blake Montgomery . Produced by Anabel Bacon
Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
2026-11-05 · The Guardian
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
Monica Espitia
2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
Also by Monica Espitia
Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
2026-11-05 · The Guardian
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
executive producer Rachel Humphreys
2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
Also by executive producer Rachel Humphreys
Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter
2026-11-05 · The Guardian
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

America Pac Democrats Pacs Republican Senate

Subjects

Elon Musk PERSON · 2× Musk PERSON · 2× Republican NORP · 2× America Pac ORG · 1× Carter PERSON · 1× Carter Sherman PERSON · 1× Democrats NORP · 1× Kai PERSON · 1× Pacs ORG · 1× Senate ORG · 1×

Narrative

Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
framing: assertive · carried by 2 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-05
🔮 Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry.
2026-11-05 · The Guardian
Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter · assertive framing
2026-11-05 · The Guardian
Was Elon Musk the US midterms' biggest loser? – Stateside with Kai and Carter · assertive framing

Claims (6 extracted, 1 hedged)

– Stateside with Kai and Carter The tech industry spent big on the midterms, but it turned out to be a poor investment. asserted
it → spend → midterms
Elon Musk poured a staggering $446m dollars into Republican-aligned political action committees (Pacs) and groups since last year, but his efforts didn’t pay off. asserted
efforts → pour → year
Democrats won every one of the five Senate races where Musk’s America Pac spent the most money backing Republican candidates. asserted
Pac → win → candidates
Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry. asserted
tsunami → join → Musk
Will this spell the end of AI datacenters? asserted
this → spell → datacenters
And if so, what could this mean for the US economy? uncertain
this → mean → economy
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