Elon Musk walked into the 2026 midterm election cycle as the world's richest person, with a plan to help the Republican Party hold onto Congress. He walked out of it still holding that title, but considerably less wealthy than he was on Monday.

Democrats won full control of Congress, and Musk's fortune took the hit you might expect.

Elon Musk's Net Worth Takes a Hit

On Tuesday, Musk ended the trading day worth $898 billion, according to Bloomberg. After a Democratic Party sweep of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, both Tesla Inc. (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPCX) were trading down by over 5% in premarket trading on Wednesday morning.

Tesla stock is down 3.5% to $384.74 on Wednesday at the time of writing, while SpaceX stock is down 1.9% to $138.68. Musk owns around 11% of Tesla, or 434.5 million shares. He also owns 6.42 billion shares of SpaceX, when counting options.

That means Musk lost $22,863,320,000, with losses of nearly $6 billion from his Tesla stake and $16.9 billion from his SpaceX stock. His net wealth is now roughly $875 billion. That amount could change once investors digest what the election could mean for Musk's businesses.

What's Next for Elon Musk

Some politicians have used Musk's wealth, he became the world's first trillionaire in June with the SpaceX IPO, to illustrate modern wealth inequality.

Musk also invested heavily in the 2026 midterm elections, with an estimated $474 million spent to help the Republican Party, according to data from The New York Times.

That money didn't produce the outcome Musk wanted. In Texas, for example, where SpaceX and Tesla are headquartered, Musk threw about $224 million to the GOP. Yet Democrat James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa won the U.S. Senate race and the governor race, respectively.

What's at Stake

Democratic lawmakers are already spearheading intense congressional scrutiny against Musk across several key areas, including his time with the Department of Government Efficiency, his alleged restrictions of Starlink satellite access in Ukraine, and whether he leveraged administrative influence for personal business gain.

While a Democratic majority in Congress could help Tesla if the EV federal tax credit returns, it could hurt the company's AI ambitions. Hinojosa actively campaigned for tougher limits on data center development.

Regulation could also tighten on autonomous vehicles moving forward, which Musk says is key to Tesla's future growth.

As for SpaceX, a Democratic-controlled Congress could use defense and spending legislation to require the government to award contracts to multiple vendors rather than relying on a single provider.

Once worth a trillion dollars, Musk's net worth could take a hit later this year and into 2027 as the Democratic Party takes control of Congress.