# John Oliver Dunks on Midterms Losers Elon Musk and Haley Stevens

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/john-oliver-dunks-on-midterms-losers-elon-musk-and-haley-stevens/
- Published: 2026-11-09T04:28:32+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-09T05:21:51+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/john-oliver-midterms-losers-elon-musk-haley-stevens-last-week-tonight-1236942879/
- Topics: Elections, Politics

## Key points

- Democrats won a series of major midterm races.
- Musk spent nearly $500 million on unsuccessful election efforts.
- Oliver criticised Stevens for backing a Republican against El-Sayed.

## Summary

John Oliver celebrated Democrats’ strong midterm performance on “Last Week Tonight”, highlighting their return to control of Congress and a series of historic victories. He also mocked Elon Musk and Haley Stevens, arguing that their costly or controversial efforts had failed.

Oliver cited 22 state government trifectas, Chris Pappas becoming the first openly gay man elected to the US Senate, and Deb Haaland and Keisha Lance Bottoms becoming the first Native American woman and first Black woman elected governor, respectively. Musk spent nearly $500 million during the election cycle, including $200 million opposing James Talarico, who won in Texas; Stevens backed Republican Mike Rogers against Abdul El-Sayed, who won their Michigan primary. Oliver also noted that Musk was ending Cybertruck production.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.