AI industry PACs spent millions on the US midterms, and several candidates they backed lost
AI industry groups and their critics both spent millions on Tuesday's US midterms, with mixed results, TechCrunch reports. American Mission, part of Leading the Future (LTF), which is backed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman and Andreessen Horowitz, and another AI PAC, Building the Future, spent $4.8 million together on South Carolina Senate candidate Darline Graham, who lost. Guardrails Alliance, which wants tighter limits on AI, spent over $1 million each against two candidates who both lost, and several Republicans backed by Anthropic-supported Public First lost. TechCrunch says the effect is hard to separate from the broader Democratic wave. LTF says primaries matter more; TechCrunch says it spent $27.38 million there and will keep spending in 2028.
Why it matters
AI companies and investors are spending heavily to shape US lawmaking, mainly over whether a national AI framework should override state laws. These results show that money did not reliably buy seats.
Sources2
Written by dalao.ai: the title, summary and why it matters are our own words. The original reports are the record; their publishers keep authorship.