AI Industry Pours Over $65 Million Into 2026 Midterm Elections Amid Partisan Donation Patterns

The artificial intelligence industry has spent over $65 million through outside groups and super PACs ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, turning AI regulation into a high-stakes political battle. Leading the Future's main super PAC raised just under $76 million, while its Democratic-focused affiliate Think Big spent $8 million opposing Alex Bores in New York's 12th congressional district. Public First Action said it had raised $80 million, including $40 million from Anthropic, while Meta donated a combined $65 million to two state-focused political groups.

AI industry election spending

• ▪OpenAI employees donated 100% of their approximately $71,000 in individual contributions and $225,000 in PAC contributions to Democratic groups in the second quarter of 2026.
• ▪The artificial intelligence industry has spent over $65 million ahead of the 2026 midterm elections through networks of outside groups and super PACs.
• ▪Employees at Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Meta, and xAI donated a combined $2.02 million to Democrats and $274,000 to Republicans in the second quarter of 2026.

Leading the Future network

• ▪Leading the Future's main super PAC received $50 million from Andreessen Horowitz, $25 million from OpenAI President Greg Brockman and his wife Anna, and $25 million from Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.
• ▪Leading the Future, a pro-AI network of super PACs, raised just under $76 million as of the end of June 2026.
• ▪Think Big spent over $18 million, including $8 million against Assemblyman Alex Bores in the Democratic primary for New York's 12th congressional district.
• ▪Leading the Future redirected $20 million to its Democratic-focused super PAC, Think Big, and $20 million to its Republican-focused super PAC, American Mission.

Public First advocacy

• ▪Public First's Jobs and Democracy PAC spent just under $20 million, including over $15 million boosting Assemblyman Alex Bores in his unsuccessful primary campaign.
• ▪Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei donated $1 million to the Public First super PAC, while other Anthropic staffers donated an additional $2.1 million.
• ▪Public First Action, a political network backing candidates who support AI regulation, raised $80 million as of June 2026, including a $40 million donation from Anthropic.

Meta state-level operations

• ▪Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across California spent over $4.3 million, including $1.3 million boosting Scott Sakakihara's run for a California state Senate seat.
• ▪Meta redirected $5.5 million from the American Technology Excellence Project to state-level super PACs Forge the Future and Making Our Tomorrow.
• ▪Meta established two political groups, donating $20 million to Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across California and $45 million to the American Technology Excellence Project.

AI regulation policy debate

• ▪The Trump administration slowed the release of the latest frontier AI models from Anthropic and OpenAI, causing tensions to flare with the industry.
• ▪New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a data center moratorium into law, reflecting growing state-level regulatory scrutiny of the AI industry.

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