Musk-backed Republicans lose key races as shares fall

Elon Musk’s Republican-backed candidates lost key races in the U.S. midterm elections, including the Texas Senate contest, as Tesla and SpaceX shares fell in early trading Wednesday. Musk responded on X with a sardonic post about the election results after polls closed Tuesday. “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” Musk wrote. The post was still online Wednesday afternoon, according to one report. Another report said a Tuesday message urging voters to “Vote red today!” had been deleted by Wednesday morning. Tesla shares were reported down 5.7% and SpaceX shares 7.6% in early trading, while another account measured declines of 4.66% for Tesla and more than 6% for SpaceX at 9:27 a.m. ET. These were intraday figures, not closing prices. A separate initial projection put the companies’ combined market-value decline at $215 billion; the reports did not establish a final Wednesday total. The Texas Senate race was a major focus of Musk’s political spending. Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, whom Musk-backed spending supported. One report said the Senate Leadership Fund used $158 million in Musk donations in September to support...