Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) spent his Saturday doing what he does best: pointing at rich people and asking why they get to write the rules. In a post on X, Sanders said Republican megadonors have spent more than $1.6 billion "trying to buy the 2026 elections," arguing that billionaires want a Congress that works for them, not for working families. He urged supporters to organize ahead of Tuesday's midterms.

The Billionaire Class Gets the Sanders Treatment

This isn't a one-off complaint. Sanders and Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) introduced the Abolish Super PACs Act, which would limit individual donations to super PACs to $5,000. His long-running argument: wealthy donors and oligarchs have too much influence over elections and can effectively buy political candidates outright.

Musk Is the Headline Target

Sanders' sharpest attacks land on Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, the most notable billionaire supporter of Republicans in recent times. Musk has contributed more than $445 million to Republican-aligned political groups during the 2026 election cycle. Sanders has also said Musk became $696 billion richer since Trump's election.

Musk's Texas ambitions have drawn fire before. In August, Sanders criticized the Tesla and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: SPCX) CEO's plan to spend up to $200 million on a Texas Senate seat, calling it "oligarchy." He urged an end to Citizens United and a ban on super PACs.

Follow the Money

Here's how the two parties stack up financially, covering the reporting period from Jan. 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026:

Democrats pulled in more from individual donors and spent more overall. Republicans raised more in total and are sitting on a bigger pile of cash as Tuesday approaches. Whether that translates into wins is, as always, the only number that matters.