Who is behind the Elon Musk-backed America PAC?

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced after Saturday’s assassination attempt against Donald Trump that he would donate $45 million a month to help the former president get re-elected. The money is going to a new super PAC called “America PAC” that was founded in June and has also received contributions from the Winklevoss twins, Ambassador Kelly Craft and her husband Joe Craft and Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of software company Palantir Technologies. Not much else, though, is known about America PAC.

Your faithful correspondent has been slinking around the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and has heard from multiple Trumpworld sources that the PAC was founded by political consultant Dave Rexrode.

Rexrode is the president of consulting firm Bluestone Strategies and previously served as the executive director of the Republican Governors Association and was the national coalitions director at the Republican National Committee. In 2023, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin brought Rexrode on to chair his Spirit of Virginia PAC, which raised more than $30 million, during the Virginia statewide elections.

Recent FEC filings show that America PAC raked in $8.75 million in the three month period ending on June 30. The Winklevoss twins each gave a quarter million; Musk’s donations will start in July. The Wall Street Journal reports that “America PAC is focused on registering voters and persuading constituents to vote early and request mail-in ballots in swing state.” They already have hundreds of employees and the group “has been registering voters, having conversations with constituents in swing states and urging voters to request mail-in ballots.” 

The PAC’s incorporation documents list a mailing address in Austin, Texas — Musk also just announced he is moving the X headquarters to Austin —  but its bank account is in McLean, Virginia, about an hour drive from where Rexrode lives in Fredericksburg.

America PAC’s quick rise is part of a larger story of the political realignment of Silicon Valley and tech entrepreneurs and investors. America PAC has received several million-dollar donations from individuals with Sequoia Capital and half a million from the founder of data security company Lookout. Trump has previously received support from Peter Thiel and David Sacks and has chosen another Silicon Valley defector, J.D. Vance, as his running mate.