Branson: Billionaires' $2.4 Billion Midterm Spending 'Embarrassed' Him

The 40 largest political donors poured a combined $2.4 billion into this year's U.S. midterms through mid-October — and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson says he's "embarrassed" by it.

The British magnate posted his criticism on LinkedIn yesterday, aiming squarely at fellow billionaires who bankrolled mostly Republican campaigns.

"As a successful entrepreneur, I have felt embarrassed by the billions that tech entrepreneurs and hedge fund managers have spent on – mostly Republican – campaigns this election cycle," Branson wrote.

What did Branson say about the results?

He read the midterm results as a rebuke to big-money politics. The elections, he said, sent a "hopeful message about the limits of money in politics."

"I'm delighted that, finally, US voters stood up to this flood of money and the often hateful and false messages it helped spread," he added.

Branson didn't stop at commentary. He called for changing the laws that allow unlimited political spending by individuals and corporations, and he urged lawmakers to act.

"I hope this will prompt the next Congress to start a fresh conversation about the toxic impact of money in politics and the need for meaningful campaign finance reform," he wrote.

How much did the megadonors actually spend?

The Brennan Center for Justice tallied the record-breaking totals. The 40 largest donors spent $2.4 billion combined through mid-October — the highest figure on record for a midterm cycle.

The partisan split has flipped over the past decade. In 2014, the top 40 donors favored Democrats two to one, according to Brennan Center research. This cycle, Republican-aligned donors outspent their left-leaning counterparts by more than three to one.

Elon Musk dominated the field. The Tesla and SpaceX founder poured nearly half a billion dollars into Republican campaigns and super PACs, including a massive investment in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's unsuccessful Senate bid, where he reportedly spent $230 million.

Other major Republican-aligned donors included Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, Jeff Yass, Miriam Adelson and Marc Andreessen, according to Public Citizen. George Soros and Michael Bloomberg led the Democratic side.

Did the spending pay off?

For Musk, the returns were dismal. Reuters reported that just three of the 43 Republican House candidates he backed had won, while 33 lost. The remaining results were still outstanding as of late Wednesday.

His Senate bets fared even worse. Six of the seven Senate candidates Musk supported lost, including Paxton in Texas — despite the $230 million Musk reportedly funneled into that race alone.

That gap between spending and results is precisely what Branson flagged. His argument now lands on a Congress where at least one billionaire's record investment produced a losing record, giving campaign finance reform advocates their most concrete datapoint yet that money alone can't buy elections.

Whether the next Congress takes up that conversation, as Branson hopes, will test whether the midterm message outlasts the cycle that produced it.