As he retreats from Washington, Elon Musk says he will spend “a lot less” time on politics.

About a year ago, Elon Musk quietly summoned a handful of Republican strategists and confidants to his sparsely decorated apartment overlooking downtown Austin. The Tesla CEO told the group that electing Donald Trump was essential to the country’s future, and he was willing to do anything – and pay any amount – to create a “red wave” around the country.

He did a
lot, launching the US DOGE Service to orchestrate sweeping layoffs and budget cuts. He spent a lot, ploughing at least US$288 million into the 2024 election. And this week, following a period of intense backlash against his political activity and his electric vehicle company, he seemed to draw a line under all that work: “I think I’ve done enough.”

So what will be the next focus for the world’s richest person?

Politics has been central to Musk’s identity over much of the past year, but his latest obsession has faded into disenchantment over the personal costs and difficulties in producing results, said two people familiar with his thinking in recent months, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Musk has also become deeply concerned for the personal safety of himself and his family, the people said. He did not anticipate the level of backlash against him personally or against his companies, including incidents of violence at Tesla facilities. Along with that push is a pull for renewed involvement in his two main businesses, Tesla and SpaceX.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment. He said during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum that he would spend “a lot less” on campaigns unless he saw “a reason” to in the future. Privately, one of the people said, Musk is disillusioned with the impact his money can have in the political system and would rather spend his time and fortune elsewhere.

The billionaire said his attention is needed back at Tesla and SpaceX, the two companies that made his reputation as a technological innovator and where he serves as chief executive. Both are at critical junctures: the electric–vehicle maker plans to roll out a fully autonomous car in June, and the rocket company is expected to launch its next–generation Starship rocket next week. Musk also aims to send an unmanned fleet to Mars in 2026, a crucial step in attaining his decades–long goal of putting humans on the Red Planet.

Meanwhile, the payoff of his intense involvement in Washington looks uncertain at best. His Department of Government Efficiency set a goal of saving $2 trillion (NZ$3.3t) from the US budget; his own latest estimates of $160 billion for fiscal 2026 are far more modest and imprecise. They are also dwarfed by the bill encompassing President Donald Trump’s sprawling tax and immigration agenda that the House passed on Thursday. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it will add $2.4t over 10 years to the national debt.

“Hill politics is not a high-leverage activity anymore,” said the person who has spoken to the billionaire in recent months. “Now that some time is bought, let’s just get back to going to Mars.”

Musk never expected his political involvement to be easy. During the meeting in Austin last year, the billionaire acknowledged the personal and financial risk he was taking by supporting a candidate opposed by his largely Democratic customer base, according to a person familiar with the meeting. But he was steadfast in his commitment, the person said, declaring that his support for Trump was rooted in “philosophical” ideals around immigration, crime and the First Amendment rather than his own bottom line.

“He was setting the tone for the gravity of his personal sacrifices,” said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting.

Yet he went all in. Musk became such a prolific donor during the 2024 election that he was referred to in some Republican circles as the “Soros of the right” – a reference to liberal billionaire megadonor George Soros.

Musk previously said his America PAC would be “heavily involved” in the 2026 midterm elections and also weigh in on district attorney races across the country. And in just the past few weeks, the PAC was discussing preliminary midterm plans for specific states, according to a person familiar with the PAC who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

While even a reduced contribution from Musk could still have an outsize influence, his comments this week “sent a message that the faucet is off”, said a second person familiar with the PAC. A spokesperson for America PAC did not respond to a request for comment.

What Musk didn’t expect was the intensity of the blowback to his role in politics over the past year, according to two people close to the billionaire. His efforts leading DOGE, which has mandated staggering layoffs across the federal government, have sparked global protests at Tesla charging stations and dealerships around the world and, in some cases, violence that included vandalism, molotov cocktails and gunfire. Last month, Tesla reported a 71% plunge in profits and a double–digit slip in sales in the first quarter of the year, compared with the same time last year.

Another potential push factor: Musk’s popularity has tanked, according to a Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll published last month. The poll found 35% of Americans approved of the way Musk is handling his job in the Trump administration, while 57% disapproved.

That disapproval may have contributed to a bruising loss in last month’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race, where Musk put himself front and centre, and groups associated with him spent at least $50m to support conservative candidate Brad Schimel. The Democrats framed Musk as a bogeyman to galvanise his base, and Schimel ended up losing by 10 points to Democratic–backed Susan Crawford.

The result led some Republicans to question whether Musk’s involvement hurt more than it helped. And it is likely to have contributed to his decision to pull back.

“Sometimes, you just get worn out, and you need to recharge,” said Christopher Nicholas, a Republican consultant in Pennsylvania, the swing state where Musk campaigned heavily for Trump last year.

A big part of Musk’s new focus is a return to Tesla, the future of which, he said, “overwhelmingly, is autonomy”. That makes this a pivotal year for the company, the CEO has said, as it prepares to launch an autonomous vehicle in June in Austin. Musk, who has been promising the company would soon launch a fully autonomous vehicle for at least a decade, said the self–driving rides would be in Tesla’s midsize Model Y cars. Musk is also focused on the Cybercab, a vehicle unveiled last year without a steering wheel and pedals that Musk has described as a $30,000 lounge on wheels and said would launch sometime in the next few years.

In a potential sign that the scrutiny of Tesla may continue despite Musk’s heavy involvement with the federal government, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent Tesla a letter of inquiry this month “to understand how Tesla plans to evaluate its vehicles and driving automation technologies for use on public roads”.

Meanwhile, some of his employees, frustrated at the torrent of controversy that Musk’s politics have unleashed on the company, have soured on the CEO. Matthew LaBrot, a former staff programme manager who was fired for creating a website last month calling on Musk to step down, said Tesla’s woes have been falsely attributed to his absence. Instead, he said, it is his tarnished reputation that is hurting the company and chilling sales.

“He implies that the issue is his lack of attention to Tesla – but it wasn’t us,” LaBrot said. “We are fighting against the torrential downpour he is putting on us.”

As Tesla struggles, Musk is also eager to return his attention to SpaceX, according to people close to him. Musk said on X that next week he will visit Starbase, SpaceX’s rocket site in South Texas, to deliver a talk “explaining the Mars game plan”. The company is also expected to launch its next–generation Starship rocket, the world’s largest and most powerful, in another test flight after the previous two ended in fiery failures.

While Musk has been ensconced in Washington, SpaceX has continued to fly its Falcon 9 rocket at a blistering pace under the leadership of Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, who runs the company on a day–to–day basis.

So far this year, it has hoisted 1000 satellites for its Starlink internet constellation, a division that under the Trump administration has seen its prospects improve for bigger roles in providing internet in rural America and abroad. SpaceX has continued flying astronauts to and from the International Space Station for Nasa. And it successfully returned Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, the astronauts who were stuck on the station after Nasa decided their Boeing spacecraft was not safe enough to fly them home.

Now, SpaceX is under pressure from Nasa as it seeks to return astronauts to the moon before China puts some there. The space agency is investing some $4b into Starship, which would ferry astronauts to and from the lunar surface. But before then, SpaceX still needs to achieve increasingly difficult milestones, including flying the spacecraft safely in Earth’s orbit as well as with people on board. To reach the moon, SpaceX also needs to demonstrate that it can refuel the spacecraft in space, a feat that has never been accomplished.

Nasa has said its goal is to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2027. Many challenges, including the pace of Starship’s development, make that date unlikely. China plans to send astronauts there before 2030, and some members of Congress are worried it will succeed before the United States is able to return.

Musk’s main goal has long been an even more difficult destination: Mars. He has said he would like to send a fleet of Starships to the Red Planet in 2026, the next time Earth and Mars are in close enough proximity.

Achieving that goal, people close to Musk have said, is one of the main reasons he’s been eager to get back to SpaceX to oversee Starship development and ensure that the company keeps pushing at the fast pace that has long defined it.

As Musk focuses on Mars and cars, his pullback from political spending could be a significant loss for the Republican Party. America PAC delivered a critical get-out-the-vote effort in the final stretch of the campaign, as it fanned out thousands of door knockers to swing states in support of Trump and other GOP candidates.

“The assumption was that Musk would provide that ground game again” for the GOP during the midterms and even in 2028, said one of the people familiar with the PAC. “So if he is truly out, that will create a scramble of who is going to turn out voters around the country.”