{"id":9578,"date":"2026-07-18T13:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T08:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9578"},"modified":"2026-07-18T13:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T08:00:21","slug":"pro-ai-super-pac-keeps-31m-ready-for-the-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9578","title":{"rendered":"Pro-AI super PAC keeps $31M ready for the midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/C_Q6MAIQ_TMlzXTMac2nfEJ2Nvc=\/0x0:1280x720\/2025\/08\/01\/1754067912070.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With millions of dollars sitting in AI super PAC accounts, the industry&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/04\/16\/ai-influence-network-cash\" target=\"_blank\">influence<\/a> in the midterms is on track to expand.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/technology\/automation-and-ai\" target=\"_blank\">AI<\/a> groups have already become major players in congressional races, but the latest Federal Election Commission filings suggest that the biggest spending may lie ahead.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>Candidates are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/24\/ai-money-early-test-ballot-box\" target=\"_blank\">not definitively<\/a> winning or losing on the AI issue alone so far. But with millions of dollars still available, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/02\/27\/ai-influence-power-players\" target=\"_blank\">AI groups<\/a> are positioned to push their priorities hard through November.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>By the numbers:<\/strong> Leading the Future \u2014 a pro-AI industry super PAC backed by tech execs and investors pushing rapid AI development and lighter regulation \u2014 closed out the second quarter with $31.5 million after transferring $20 million to affiliated groups.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It disbursed $10 million each to Think Big PAC and American Mission PAC, according to its latest FEC filing.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Our resources will allow us to continue building a deep bench of pro-innovation champions,&#8221; Leading the Future spokesperson Jesse Hunt told Axios in a statement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The other side: <\/strong>Public First Action, a bipartisan 501(c)(4) nonprofit that advocates for AI safety and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/02\/12\/anthropic-millions-ai-policy-fight\" target=\"_blank\">received<\/a> $20 million from Anthropic earlier this year, is tied to three super PACs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The bipartisan Public First PAC <\/strong>reported about $494,000 cash on hand at the end of Q2. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The super PAC raised about $3.4 million during the quarter \u2014 much of it from Anthropic executives and employees \u2014 and transferred $3.3 million to its affiliate, Jobs and Democracy PAC.<\/li>\n<li>Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei<strong> <\/strong>donated $1 million to Public First.<\/li>\n<li>Anthropic, Google and OpenAI employees collectively contributed more than $2 million to the super PAC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Jobs and Democracy PAC,<\/strong> which backs Democrats, ended the quarter with about $1.3 million cash on hand.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The super PAC spent heavily in support of New York pro-AI safety candidate Alex Bores, who lost out to fellow Democrat Micah Lasher.<\/li>\n<li>In addition to the money from Public First PAC during this quarter, it received nearly $10 million from Public First Action, the affiliated 501(c)(4), during the reporting period.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Republican-focused<\/strong> Defending Our Values PAC, meanwhile, closed out the quarter with nearly $315,000 cash on hand.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Guardrails Alliance, <\/strong>a newly launched super PAC backed by tech workers and founded by Democratic organizers, reported nearly $400,000 cash on hand.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The group advocates for robust AI safety regulations, workers&#8217; rights and fighting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guardrailsalliance.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">what it considers<\/a> AI billionaire efforts to buy elections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Between the lines: <\/strong>Groups focused on AI safety and transparency are far behind industry fundraising.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The bottom line: <\/strong>As the midterms approach, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/04\/16\/ai-influence-network-cash\" target=\"_blank\">AI PAC spending<\/a> is ramping up.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>With roughly $31 million in its accounts, Leading the Future has significant room to expand its footprint before November.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With millions of dollars sitting in AI super PAC accounts, the industry&#8217;s influence in the midterms is on track to expand. Why it matters: AI groups have already become major players in congressional races, but the latest Federal Election Commission filings suggest that the biggest spending may lie ahead. Candidates are not definitively winning or&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/C_Q6MAIQ_TMlzXTMac2nfEJ2Nvc=\/0x0:1280x720\/2025\/08\/01\/1754067912070.gif","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}