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AI PACs spent millions trying to shape Congress. Here’s how they fared.
Political groups supporting and opposing the AI industry spent millions trying to influence Tuesday’s US midterm elections and shape future AI regulation, but their results were mixed. Several heavily funded candidates lost, and the broader Democratic gains make it difficult to tell how much AI-related spending affected individual races.
Industry-backed American Mission and Building the Future spent $4.8 million supporting South Carolina Senate candidate Darline Graham, who lost; American Mission also spent more than $500,000 each backing two losing House candidates in Montana and North Carolina. Leading the Future’s Democratic group, Think Big, backed Florida Representative Jared Moskowitz, who won re-election. Safeguards advocates also had mixed results: Public First backed losing Republicans but had more success with Democrats, while Guardrails Alliance spent more than $1 million opposing two losing candidates and $300,000 supporting Angela Gonzales-Torres, who defeated one of them. Leading the Future said it focused more on primaries, spending $27.38 million there, including $8 million against Alex Bores, who lost his June congressional primary.
In short
- AI-related political spending produced mixed results in the midterms.
- Several candidates receiving substantial backing lost their races.
- Leading the Future spent $27.38 million in primaries.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
AI-related political spending can help voters and lawmakers understand the stakes of future regulation, and groups on both sides may reasonably support candidates they believe will protect innovation, safety or public accountability. The mixed results suggest that funding can build visibility and influence some contests, even when it does not determine the outcome of every race.
The case against
Large, specialised political spending can give wealthy interests outsized influence over elections and the rules governing a powerful industry, while making it harder for voters to distinguish public-interest advocacy from efforts to secure favourable regulation. The losses of several heavily backed candidates, alongside broader partisan gains, also leave little evidence that the spending reliably reflected or changed voters’ choices.
AI Elections Government Politics Technology