# Trump Seeks to Boost Iowa Republicans, Musk Midterm Giving Tops $445 Million

An episode of [Bloomberg Daybreak: US Edition](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1663860720), 23 Oct 2026, 16 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/d15648c4-cee0-4e99-a5ca-af80014d921d/d4ec6d4d-044d-4d3c-bccc-b4ec00a03fb3/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=65ce2954-d8a8-4c66-9f42-af80014d923e

Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast: 1) President Trump traveled to Iowa on Thursday to boost Ashley Hinson, the Republican Senate candidate locked in a tight race with Democrat Josh Turek. Trump’s visit is the first of two he is expected to make to the state before Election Day on November 3rd. After reliably voting Republican for the past decade, Iowa has become competitive territory once again thanks to high fertilizer and fuel costs wrought by Trump’s war on Iran and shrinking export markets for farmers due to his tariffs. 2) With a fresh infusion of cash to his super political action committee in the first two weeks of October, Elon Musk has now given more than $445 million in the current election cycle and become one of the biggest-ever contributors to such groups. The world’s richest person put $77 million into America PAC, Federal Election Commission filings show, in an effort to elect Republicans in November midterm contests. 3) Stocks steadied at the start of the European session, offering global investors some respite after a rout in the artificial intelligence trade, while further gains in oil prices kept sentiment cautious. Meantime, a gauge of the inverse relationship between US government bonds and AI-focused stocks has strengthened to levels last seen a year ago. It’s a sign the deepening tech selloff is sending investors back into bonds for safety, reviving a haven role that had faded as inflation worries and higher interest rates weighed on Treasuries. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios.
[0:04] Speaker 2: Podcasts.
[0:05] Speaker 3: Radio.
[0:06] Speaker 4: News.
[0:10] Speaker 1: Good morning.
[0:11] Speaker 4: I'm Karen Moscow.
[0:12] Speaker 5: And I'm Alexis Christophorus. Here are the stories we're following today. Alexis,
[0:17] Speaker 5: we begin with the race to the midterms.
[0:18] Speaker 6: We are just 11 days from the election that will
[0:21] Speaker 6: determine control of Congress. And President Trump was in Sioux City,
[0:25] Speaker 6: Iowa last night, stumping for Ashley Hinson, It was locked
[0:28] Speaker 6: in a tight race with Democrat Josh Turek for retiring
[0:31] Speaker 6: Republican Joni Ernst's Senate seat.
[0:34] Speaker 2: So Ashley Hinson, on the other hand, is a mother,
[0:37] Speaker 2: a warrior, a patriot, and she will never let far-left
[0:40] Speaker 2: maniacs push the radical left insanity on Iowa's children.
[0:45] Speaker 6: President Trump fired his base up with attacks on Minnesota
[0:48] Speaker 6: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and a defense of Vivek Ramaswamy, who's
[0:52] Speaker 6: running an ad against his Democratic opponent for Ohio Governor
[0:55] Speaker 6: Amy Acton that other Republicans say should come down.
[0:59] Speaker 7: He must take that ad down immediately. He must.
[1:02] Speaker 2: No, the mother is calling the daughter a terrible person
[1:07] Speaker 2: and a liar.
[1:09] Speaker 5: The Iowa race has turned competitive thanks to rising fuel
[1:13] Speaker 5: and fertilizer costs from the Iran war and tariffs shrinking farmers'
[1:17] Speaker 5: export markets. President Trump spent relatively little time discussing cost
[1:21] Speaker 5: of living issues, though he did tout a plan to
[1:23] Speaker 5: boost fuel production through a Cold War-era law. The latest
[1:27] Speaker 5: RealClearPolitics polling average puts Ashley Hinson ahead of Josh Turek
[1:31] Speaker 5: in Iowa by less than half a percent. President Trump
[1:34] Speaker 5: is expected to return to Iowa at least once more
[1:37] Speaker 5: before the November 3rd vote.
[1:39] Speaker 6: And as the president stumps for Republican candidates, Alexis, the
[1:42] Speaker 6: GOP continues to rack up donations. Filings show the world's
[1:46] Speaker 6: richest man, Elon Musk, put another $ 77 million into his
[1:50] Speaker 6: political action committee, America PAC, in the first two weeks
[1:53] Speaker 6: of October. That totals Musk's political giving to more than
[1:57] Speaker 6: $ 445 million. President Trump, the Republican Party, and its congressional
[2:03] Speaker 6: super PACs have raised $ 2. 1 billion through the end of
[2:06] Speaker 6: the third quarter. That tops the $ 1. 3 billion that Democrats'
[2:10] Speaker 6: corresponding committees raised. And we should note that Michael Bloomberg,
[2:13] Speaker 6: the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent
[2:17] Speaker 6: of Bloomberg Radio, contributed about $ 80 million in September and
[2:20] Speaker 6: October to help Democrats in the midterms.
[2:24] Speaker 5: And Nathan, President Trump is touting his relationship with Elon Musk,
[2:27] Speaker 5: despite a report from The Wall Street Journal saying the
[2:30] Speaker 5: president expressed frustration over Ukraine's access to Musk's Starlink service.
[2:35] Speaker 5: President Trump was asked if the two spoke about Musk
[2:38] Speaker 5: restricting Starlink system speeds for Ukraine.
[2:42] Speaker 1: I don't want to say, but.
[2:44] Speaker 7: I know it was a very interesting situation, so I
[2:49] Speaker 7: don't want to comment one way or the other, but
[2:52] Speaker 7: my relationship with Elon is a very good one.
[2:55] Speaker 8: Go ahead.
[2:59] Speaker 7: Yeah, I don't want to comment on it. You know,
[3:01] Speaker 7: whether I called or whether somebody else called doesn't make
[3:04] Speaker 7: any difference. I guess the bottom line, he put it back.
[3:07] Speaker 5: President Trump speaking to reporters there. Bloomberg News is reporting
[3:11] Speaker 5: that Ukrainian troops are still seeing limits on connection speeds,
[3:14] Speaker 5: though the service improved slightly in some areas.
[3:17] Speaker 6: Alexis, we want to turn to the latest from the
[3:19] Speaker 6: Middle East. Israel has ordered its army to prepare for
[3:22] Speaker 6: a full closure of the West Bank today. This follows
[3:26] Speaker 6: a deadly shooting earlier in the day in the occupied territory.
[3:29] Speaker 6: Israeli soldiers shot and killed two men who they say
[3:32] Speaker 6: had launched an attack near the city of Hebron, injuring
[3:35] Speaker 6: at least five people. Orders to close off the West
[3:38] Speaker 6: Bank came after Israel's army said it thwarted a terror attack,
[3:42] Speaker 6: and Israel's government warned of potential attacks by its enemies
[3:45] Speaker 6: in the lead-up to their election this coming Tuesday.
[3:50] Speaker 5: And now to the latest on how fighting overseas is
[3:52] Speaker 5: impacting energy. Physical prices of some Middle East crude oil
[3:56] Speaker 5: sold outside the Persian Gulf have dropped as flows via
[3:59] Speaker 5: the Strait of Hormuz are holding up. It's a sign
[4:02] Speaker 5: that producers and global traders getting more adept here at
[4:05] Speaker 5: pushing cargos through the Strait despite the attacks. Checking the
[4:08] Speaker 5: price of oil this morning, we've got Brent up about
[4:10] Speaker 5: half a percent at $ 1. 1370 a barrel and WTI crude
[4:12] Speaker 5: $ 100. 27 a barrel. That is up about eight-tenths of a percent, Nathan.
[4:19] Speaker 6: Alexis France is preparing to put extra troops on its streets,
[4:22] Speaker 6: bracing for another weekend of protests with soldiers ready to
[4:26] Speaker 6: guard sensitive buildings. On top of a 20% increase in
[4:29] Speaker 6: police presence, specialist forces normally used for missions including counterterrorism
[4:35] Speaker 6: are going to be available as well. French President Emmanuel
[4:38] Speaker 6: Macron says only protests organized by labor unions will be
[4:41] Speaker 6: authorized this weekend. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is commenting
[4:47] Speaker 6: on the protests. He says violence is unacceptable, but legitimate
[4:50] Speaker 6: grievances must not be suppressed. The violence and destruction we
[4:55] Speaker 6: have seen on the streets is unacceptable, and those responsible
[4:58] Speaker 6: for criminal activities must be held accountable.
[5:01] Speaker 8: At the same time, we.
[5:02] Speaker 9: Cannot let intolerable violence obscure the legitimate and very real
[5:07] Speaker 9: grievances of the many peaceful protesters.
[5:10] Speaker 6: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' comments come as French supermarket
[5:14] Speaker 6: chain Carrefour warned earlier this week that the unrest will
[5:16] Speaker 6: weigh on its earnings this year.
[5:18] Speaker 5: And to Latin America now, in the fiercely contested president
[5:21] Speaker 5: race in Brazil, Flavio Bolsonaro and incumbent President Luiz Inácio
[5:25] Speaker 5: Lula da Silva are tied just days before the country's
[5:28] Speaker 5: Sunday runoff election. That's according to a new poll from Datafor,
[5:32] Speaker 5: showing Bolsonaro and Lula would each take 50 percent of
[5:36] Speaker 5: valid votes, which exclude null and blank ballots. Brazilians head
[5:40] Speaker 5: to the polls on Sunday. Bolsonaro upset Lula in the
[5:43] Speaker 5: October 4th first round vote, making the conservative challenger the
[5:46] Speaker 5: favorite to win the runoff.
[5:48] Speaker 6: Let's turn to the markets now, Alexis. The AI trade
[5:51] Speaker 6: is whipsawing equities, and investors have been searching for a
[5:54] Speaker 6: flight to safety in U.S.
[5:56] Speaker 1: Treasuries.
[5:56] Speaker 6: The 10-year yield fell back below 5%. It's still below
[6:00] Speaker 6: that benchmark, as bonds posted their best day in more
[6:03] Speaker 6: than two years. Bloomberg Markets Editor Garfield Reynolds says mounting
[6:07] Speaker 6: doubts over returns on AI are a boon to treasuries.
[6:12] Speaker 10: Treasuries are recapturing, at least for the moment, their role as,
[6:17] Speaker 10: you know, it's a deep market. If you need somewhere
[6:19] Speaker 10: to hide, that's a place to go. And in fact,
[6:23] Speaker 10: if you look across the bond space this week, most
[6:28] Speaker 10: bond markets have been rallying strongly, government bond markets, just
[6:32] Speaker 10: not as strong as the.
[6:34] Speaker 6: U.S., Bloomberg's Garfield Reynolds says investors are reluctant to make
[6:37] Speaker 6: big bets in either direction as they take stock of
[6:40] Speaker 6: a tech route fueled by doubts about the sustainability of
[6:43] Speaker 6: heavy spending on the global AI build-out.
[6:46] Speaker 5: And speaking of the AI build-out, tech stocks are trimming
[6:49] Speaker 5: their losses. NASDAQ 100 futures edging higher here this morning,
[6:53] Speaker 5: now up just about 73 points after the index suffered
[6:56] Speaker 5: its worst session since June. Investors are questioning whether heavy
[7:00] Speaker 5: spending will deliver enough revenue to justify the cost. Bloomberg
[7:03] Speaker 5: News equity strategist Ruel Amin has more from London.
[7:07] Speaker 8: We know CapEx has been a huge theme this year.
[7:09] Speaker 8: Meta guided for about $ 140 billion of CapEx next year.
[7:12] Speaker 8: And what that means is for the first time, their
[7:15] Speaker 8: CapEx to operating cash flow ratio is going to exceed 100%,
[7:18] Speaker 8: which means that they're going to have to increasingly finance
[7:21] Speaker 8: these things through debt and other things. And that's what
[7:24] Speaker 8: the concern was.
[7:25] Speaker 5: Bloomberg's Ruel Amin. The sell-off is also pushing money into
[7:28] Speaker 5: defensive sectors while markets wait for earnings from Microsoft, Amazon
[7:32] Speaker 5: and Alphabet next week.
[7:34] Speaker 6: And Alexa, SpaceX is laying the groundwork for a new
[7:38] Speaker 6: nationwide mobile cell phone network. The company is seeking access
[7:42] Speaker 6: to at least 80,000 cell sites across the U.S. Sources
[7:46] Speaker 6: tell Bloomberg that SpaceX is in talks with at least
[7:49] Speaker 6: one major tower operator. The new infrastructure would complement existing
[7:53] Speaker 6: Starlink satellites and recently acquired wireless spectrum.
[8:00] Speaker 5: It's 5.09 on Wall Street. Time now for a look
[8:02] Speaker 5: at some of the other stories making news in New
[8:03] Speaker 5: York and around the world. For that, we're joined by
[8:05] Speaker 5: Bloomberg's John Tucker.
[8:06] Speaker 1: Good morning, John.
[8:07] Speaker 3: Good morning, Alexis. It's the end of the road for
[8:09] Speaker 3: horse-drawn carriages in New York City. Following a vote by
[8:12] Speaker 3: the city council, let's get the update from Bloomberg's Charlie Pellett.
[8:16] Speaker 1: It's a 150-year tradition dating back to the 19th century,
[8:21] Speaker 1: and the vote came after years of debate over the
[8:24] Speaker 1: horse's place on New York City streets. The ban will
[8:27] Speaker 1: take effect June 1st of 2028 and prohibits the sale
[8:31] Speaker 1: of horses for slaughter... or their transfer to other carriage companies.
[8:36] Speaker 1: The vote ends an iconic tradition that was beloved by
[8:39] Speaker 1: tourists but long opposed by animal welfare activists. In New York,
[8:44] Speaker 1: Charlie Pellett, Bloomberg Radio.
[8:46] Speaker 3: Apple's foldable iPhone Duo went on sale today, bringing back
[8:50] Speaker 3: the sight of people lining up overnight to get their
[8:52] Speaker 3: hands on it first. Customers packing stores from Beijing to Singapore.
[8:57] Speaker 3: It marks the company's most radical reinvention of the iPhone's
[8:59] Speaker 3: nearly two-decade history. President Trump signing an executive order aimed
[9:04] Speaker 3: at trying to bring down housing costs. The order would
[9:07] Speaker 3: direct the Federal Housing Finance Agency to create a pilot
[9:10] Speaker 3: program that would proactively cancel mortgage insurance on certain loans.
[9:16] Speaker 3: An insurer controlled by Mark Walter, the billionaire owner of
[9:19] Speaker 3: the Los Angeles Dodgers, has won partial approval on a
[9:21] Speaker 3: plan to slash lending to his other businesses. This move
[9:25] Speaker 3: comes after those deals came under scrutiny from the Justice Department.
[9:29] Speaker 3: And a police officer in Florida facing five felony charges
[9:32] Speaker 3: for allegedly impersonating a dead man and moving into that
[9:36] Speaker 3: man's home after conducting a welfare check. Lauderville police officer
[9:40] Speaker 3: Brian Surgis remains on paid administrative leave. Investigators accuse him
[9:45] Speaker 3: of helping a welfare, carrying out a welfare check at
[9:49] Speaker 3: a home of Dennis West, who was found dead inside,
[9:52] Speaker 3: then moving into the man's home. Global News, 24 hours
[9:56] Speaker 3: a day, whenever you want it, with Bloomberg News Now.
[9:58] Speaker 8: I'm John Tucker.
[9:59] Speaker 3: And this is Bloomberg, Alexis.
[10:03] Speaker 2: Thanks, John.
[10:03] Speaker 5: Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update. And for that,
[10:06] Speaker 5: we bring in John Staschauer.
[10:07] Speaker 2: Thanks, Karen.
[10:08] Speaker 11: Thursday night football to begin Week 7. In Chicago, the
[10:10] Speaker 11: Bears led the Patriots 20-7. New England scored a touchdown
[10:14] Speaker 11: in the last play of the first half but never
[10:16] Speaker 11: got closer. Chicago won 30-24. Big comeback in the NBA.
[10:20] Speaker 11: Biggest comeback of LeBron James' career. Philadelphia in its home
[10:24] Speaker 11: opener came from 29 down to beat Cleveland. The World
[10:26] Speaker 11: Series begins tonight in Milwaukee. Between two teams who've never
[10:29] Speaker 11: won the series, it's the Rays and Brewers. Jacob Misurowski,
[10:33] Speaker 11: the Milwaukee Ace, goes against Tampa Bay's Dick Martinez. That's
[10:36] Speaker 11: your Bloomberg Sports Update.
[10:39] Speaker 5: Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this.
[10:47] Speaker 1: Coast to coast on Bloomberg Radio. Nationwide on Sirius XM.
[10:51] Speaker 6: And around the world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business App.
[10:55] Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Daybreak.
[10:57] Speaker 2: Good morning.
[10:57] Speaker 6: I'm Nathan Hager. The countdown to the midterms continues. We
[11:01] Speaker 6: are now just 11 days away. And President Donald Trump
[11:05] Speaker 6: continues to fire up his base with rallies in once
[11:08] Speaker 6: reliably red states.
[11:10] Speaker 2: Early voting in Iowa is underway right now. And so
[11:13] Speaker 2: get everyone that you know, go vote.
[11:16] Speaker 6: While the president looks to shore up the Senate, word
[11:18] Speaker 6: of Elon Musk's massive giving to boost Republicans has the
[11:22] Speaker 6: potential to reshape this race as well. For more, we're
[11:26] Speaker 6: joined by Bloomberg News managing editor Jill Desis.
[11:30] Speaker 1: Jill, good morning.
[11:32] Speaker 6: $ 445 million is the figure we're seeing from federal election
[11:37] Speaker 6: filings when it comes to Elon Musk's PAC giving. How
[11:40] Speaker 6: much could that sway this race?
[11:42] Speaker 3: Good morning.
[11:42] Speaker 1: Good morning.
[11:44] Speaker 9: Good morning, Nathan. Yeah, I think to just really kind
[11:47] Speaker 9: of put this spending by Elon Musk into context, I mean,
[11:51] Speaker 9: you're looking at $ 77 million of that going into America PAC.
[11:55] Speaker 9: That's according to Federal Election Commission filings. Looking at trying
[12:00] Speaker 9: to aid that effort to elect Republicans in November, where
[12:03] Speaker 9: America PAC is really putting in those biggest expenditures have
[12:07] Speaker 9: been in the Texas Senate's race. That's the race between
[12:09] Speaker 9: Democrat James Tellerito and and Republican Ken Paxton. So maybe
[12:14] Speaker 9: there's a little bit of influence there. But ultimately, I
[12:16] Speaker 9: think when you're looking at that spending, it does kind
[12:19] Speaker 9: of indicate that broader narrative that we're really looking at here,
[12:22] Speaker 9: which is that you're seeing Democrats at this point pose
[12:26] Speaker 9: to potentially retake the House of Representatives, also keep the
[12:30] Speaker 9: Senate in play. Certainly something that's very competitive there. So
[12:36] Speaker 9: the spending does just indicate, I think, to us that
[12:38] Speaker 9: You're looking at a very, very competitive midterm when we're
[12:41] Speaker 9: really only just a couple of weeks out at this point.
[12:43] Speaker 6: It seems that the president is well aware that the
[12:46] Speaker 6: Senate is in play because a lot of the visits
[12:48] Speaker 6: that he's been making to these rallies are in states
[12:51] Speaker 6: that have very competitive Senate races. What do you make
[12:56] Speaker 6: of how he's been trying to rally up his base
[12:59] Speaker 6: with just a few days left?
[13:02] Speaker 9: Yes, I think Iowa in particular is fascinating. So you've
[13:05] Speaker 9: got the president of the United States traveling to Iowa
[13:08] Speaker 9: just yesterday to boost Ashley Hinson. She's the Republican Senate candidate.
[13:13] Speaker 9: She's locked in a very tight race with the Democrat
[13:15] Speaker 9: Josh Turek. And I think that this race in particular,
[13:18] Speaker 9: very interesting because they're sort of fighting, campaigning to replace
[13:23] Speaker 9: outgoing Republican Senator Joni Ernst, who when you look at
[13:25] Speaker 9: her elections back in 2014, 2020, I mean, she was
[13:28] Speaker 9: winning this race. The Republican Joni Ernst won the Senate
[13:33] Speaker 9: seat by what, 10 percentage points? I think around 8
[13:36] Speaker 9: percentage points in 2020. So you're looking at a race
[13:38] Speaker 9: that was incredibly competitive. Now you've got the president stopping
[13:42] Speaker 9: in deep conservative parts of Iowa once a reliable Republican
[13:46] Speaker 9: stronghold to try to boost Republican turnout. What he often
[13:50] Speaker 9: talked about, so again, kind of back up a little bit.
[13:54] Speaker 9: One of the reasons why some of these races are
[13:56] Speaker 9: so competitive is because you're seeing Iowans, farmers very concerned
[14:02] Speaker 9: about tariffs, fuel costs that have been under pressure because
[14:06] Speaker 9: of the Iran war. And now you've got the president
[14:09] Speaker 9: kind of coming in, giving rallies in very deep red
[14:11] Speaker 9: parts of the state on a lot of standard Republican
[14:14] Speaker 9: talking points. And it still does, again, kind of indicates
[14:19] Speaker 9: how difficult Or at least the pressure that the president
[14:22] Speaker 9: is under to kind of rally turn up from these
[14:26] Speaker 9: deeply reliable Republican voters. They try to just capture Senate
[14:31] Speaker 9: seats that again were once reliably very well held.
[14:36] Speaker 4: This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories
[14:39] Speaker 4: making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond.
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