How AI Super PACs Are Shaping The Midterms

Two major AI-backed super PACs engaged in a high-stakes battle during the midterm elections, centered on federal AI regulation policy. Leading the Future, funded by OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, spent over $24 million opposing New York State Assemblyman Alex Bores, who had championed the RAISE Act—one of the first state-level bills designed to regulate AI. The super PAC launched attack ads claiming the legislation would create a chaotic patchwork of state rules that could crush innovation and cost jobs.

In response, Public First Action, partially backed by Anthropic, spent over $20 million supporting Bores. Some observers characterized this as a proxy war between the rival AI companies, though both Anthropic and OpenAI attempted to distance themselves from the PACs' political activities. Despite the combined spending of over $37 million in this single race alone, Bores ultimately lost the primary to Michael Lasher, who expressed skepticism toward both major AI companies' regulatory influence.

The PACs' spending reflects deeper policy disagreements within the AI industry and Congress. Leading the Future advocates for a unified national regulatory framework for AI development, while opponents like Bores support state-level regulation. Democrats remain divided on AI policy, with some members like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez supporting data center bans, while others like Josh Gottheimer and Ted Lieu favor collaboration with AI companies. By the midpoint of the primary season, Leading the Future had raised $125 million and Public First Action $80 million, with additional AI-backed PACs also funding races. The ongoing debate centers on whether state-by-state regulation or federal standards better serve innovation, safety, and public concerns about jobs, utility costs, and environmental impact.