The biggest gamble, the worst loser: After the midterm elections, where will Musk's business empire go?

Musk’s political bet backfired after Democrats swept both chambers of Congress, triggering a sharp repricing of Tesla and SpaceX. Tesla fell 11% on November 5 after a 3.3% drop the prior day, while SpaceX shares in secondary trading dropped 9% and broke below their $135 IPO price, wiping about $74 billion from Musk’s net worth in a single day. The bigger threat is operational: Texas governor-elect Hinojosa wants to pause data-center approvals and scrap tax breaks, putting SpaceX’s plan to double compute from 1.7GW in September to 3GW by year-end, and reach 13GW next year, at risk; Goldman Sachs data show about 45% of U.S. planned and under-construction compute capacity sits in Democratic states backing a pause. Democrats set to lead the House Oversight Committee have warned Musk to “lawyer up,” with probes expected into DOGE-era cuts, Starlink’s role in Ukraine and federal contracts and subsidies flowing to Tesla and SpaceX. Watch whether Texas formalizes its data-center pause and tax-credit rollback, and whether oversight hearings translate into concrete compliance costs.