Billionaire donors and investors reacted sharply to Democrats' midterm sweep, and Wall Street rallied. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,569 points, or 3%, the S&P 500 gained 1.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.4%. CNBC reported that investors welcomed political gridlock, reduced uncertainty and President Donald Trump's willingness to accept the results.

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson wrote on LinkedIn that he felt "embarrassed by the billions that tech entrepreneurs and hedge fund managers have spent," and called for campaign finance reform. He did not give donations that met the threshold for reporting in the 2026 cycle.

Elon Musk, the election's largest individual donor, spent $224 million in Texas, nearly half of his record $474 million in political giving nationwide, according to a CNBC analysis of campaign finance records. His preferred Republicans lost the Texas Senate and governor races. Musk joked on X that his "election-interfering space lasers" had failed.

Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder and a major Democratic donor, wrote on X that "We should get money out of politics." He accused Musk of spending "outrageous amounts to keep authoritarian clowns in power." Alex Soros wrote on X that "The world changed yesterday." His family contributed roughly $103 million to Democratic efforts.

Investors also focused on the sweep's possible effect on the AI boom. Bill Ackman, Pershing Square founder, said on CNBC that "Practically speaking, we can't slow down." Chamath Palihapitiya said on the "All-In" podcast that "the only way to sink the AI trade is to sink the data centers." Brad Gerstner, Altimeter Capital CEO, warned that 10 to 15 gigawatts of expected AI data-center capacity might not come online in 2027. Analyst Dan Ives estimated that 10% of planned U.S. data centers would no longer go ahead.

Democratic Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, who has proposed a moratorium on new data-center construction until stronger safeguards exist, defeated three-term Republican incumbent Greg Abbott in Texas. AMD CEO Lisa Su told CNBC that "At the end of the day, what we need to do is ensure that everybody wins from AI."

Big Tech stocks rose more than $750 billion in market value at one point Wednesday, while smaller, debt-dependent data-center operators fell.