AI-linked super – Super PACs tied to major AI companies are spending tens of millions on congressional races, using ad campaigns that voters say dwarf grassroots efforts—while candidates fight over AI regulation, safety, and even the data centers powering the technology.
WASHINGTON — The ad landed like a verdict for one Montana Republican trying to survive a primary fight: “Celeste Maloy will never let you down,” the spot said, praising the Utah Republican representative as voters headed toward an election window shaped by outside money.
In Oregon, an ad backing the state’s Democratic representative, Val Hoyle, struck a different theme: “Standing up to big pharma, fighting for local jobs, Val Hoyle doesn’t back down,” it said after her primary victory last month.
Across races in big cities and rural areas alike. the ads arrive from super PACs with nondescript names such as Jobs and Democracy PAC and American Mission. The wording often sounds generic enough to seem machine-made—an impression strengthened by the fact that the AI industry is funding the campaigns.
One network of super PACs is linked to Anthropic, maker of the Claude tool. The other is linked to OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT. Together. they have been among the most prolific political spenders so far in the 2026 midterm elections. splashing out more than $37 million to date to influence races across the country. That figure could climb sharply as campaign season accelerates toward the November election and as Silicon Valley prepares initial public offerings poised to raise billions of dollars for the companies and their executives.
The political spending is also taking place through the kind of vehicle that can spend unlimited amounts in federal races: super PACs, which can raise and spend without limits thanks to the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
In one Montana Republican congressional primary, a candidate described feeling outmatched by the scale of outside spending. Al Olszewski said his opponent beat him by 30 points after receiving a boost from $877. 000 in ads from a super PAC backed by OpenAI’s co-founder. “There was no way as a grassroots person that I could compete with that kind of money,” Olszewski said. “I got crushed.”.
Those networks insist they are independent from the political campaigns they support. One group counts $25 million in support from OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and his wife. Anna. alongside $100 million tied to one of Silicon Valley’s biggest venture capital firms holding a large stake in OpenAI. The global policy chief for OpenAI was reportedly involved in conceiving the group. The other side has gotten $20 million from Anthropic, along with millions more from donors whose identities are not public.
This anonymous political cash—commonly known as dark money—is spreading. “This has become very normalized now,” said Brendan Glavin, director of insights at OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign spending. Glavin said that in 2024, over $1 billion in dark money was tracked. He added that total was $350 million higher than the previous presidential election.
The playbook appears to be changing fast in tech. Adam Kovacevich—described as a former Google public policy executive and the founder of Chamber of Progress, a technology trade group with a progressive orientation—compared the current shift to a strategy used by the cryptocurrency industry.
Kovacevich pointed to how emerging technology companies have become “comfortable with using their power to achieve a political goal.” He also recalled that for a long time. the tech industry lobbying approach was essentially “leave us alone. ” noting that Google did not hire its first in-house Washington lobbyist until after the company went public in 2005.
He said the current super PAC spending reflects the crypto industry’s political lesson: “There’s no substitute for building up political power.” Kovacevich said this AI-linked spending in congressional races is following a similar pattern to the cryptocurrency-linked network that has spent more on congressional races this year than those linked to OpenAI.
At the center of the ad wars is AI policy, which remains unsettled. “AI policy is far from settled. ” said Asad Ramzanali. a former deputy director for strategy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Biden administration and director of artificial intelligence and technology policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration banned foreign nationals from using the most powerful AI model developed by Anthropic and even banned the company’s own employees from it, forcing the company to restrict access for all users.
While the two super PAC networks have largely avoided making ads that mention AI directly—and have mostly avoided fighting each other in the same races—there has been one major exception: a high-profile Manhattan Democratic congressional primary to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.).
In that race, the field includes Kennedy scion and social media star Jake Schlossberg, and former Republican turned Trump critic George Conway. But the AI-backed spending has targeted Alex Bores, a former Palantir data scientist who now serves in the New York state Assembly.
Bores sponsored a state measure known as the RAISE Act, requiring major AI companies to be transparent about their safety protocols and promptly report safety incidents. The bill was signed into law in December 2025.
Ads tied to the OpenAI-backed super PAC network. which has spent more than $7.5 million in the race. paint Bores as someone who can’t be trusted. Those ads cite his support from other tech billionaires. including former crypto mogul and convicted financial fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried. whose super PAC spent $100. 000 to support Bores in 2022 when he first ran for New York Assembly. One ad asks, “Is that really who should be shaping AI safety for our kids?”.
The Anthropic-backed side. also spending more than $7.5 million supporting Bores. makes the opposite pitch—arguing that the very bill Bores sponsored is evidence he should be elected. An ad says: “As a computer engineer. Alex Bores saw how dangerous unregulated AI could be and he wrote New York’s RAISE Act to put real safeguards on A.I. and hold big tech accountable.”.
The ad barrage has even included a rare moment of overlap. Another super PAC created to support Bores is most heavily backed by an employee of Anthropic and an employee of OpenAI, both of whom focus on AI safety. That group, Dream NYC, has spent more than $1.7 million supporting Bores.
Bores and fellow New York State Assemblymember Micah Lasher have been atop the most recent polls in the race ahead of the June 23 primary.
In Utah, the debate over AI policy has played out in a different arena—over the massive data centers needed to power the technology.
A proposed data center in Box Elder County, backed by “Shark Tank” television personality Kevin O’Leary, has generated controversy because of questions about its impact on resources in the drought-prone state and its environmental effect on the nearby Great Salt Lake.
In Utah’s most competitive Republican congressional primary—the newly drawn 3rd Congressional District—both candidates expressed concerns about how the project has been developed and called for greater transparency in this plan and for future data centers in the state.
A super PAC backed by Anthropic has spent more than $920,000 to support Celeste Maloy. The amount exceeds $950,000 for her support from that same Anthropic-backed group, even as Maloy runs in the new district after the boundaries of her old district changed.
“It’s a lot of money to throw at a race,” said Maloy’s opponent, Phil Lyman. Lyman is a former conservative Republican state Representative who ran to the right of Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox in an unsuccessful primary challenge in 2024.
Lyman said he is not anti data centers. “I’m not AI skeptic,” he said. “I’m not anti data centers, I’m pro-transparency,” he added. “I think the future is bright with AI.”
The group says it is backing Maloy because it sees her as “someone who’s worked the issue” of AI regulation and who “has demonstrated leadership” with Republicans in Congress. Maloy’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
But Lyman suspected the support has more to do with old-style politics than the underlying technology. “One of the two co-founders of the political group is Chris Stewart, Maloy’s predecessor in Congress,” Lyman said. “Everything that they’re doing feels very coordinated,” he added. “It makes you wonder if he’s still really controlling that seat.”.
AI super PAC Anthropic OpenAI Claude ChatGPT midterm elections dark money campaign spending RAISE Act Alex Bores Celeste Maloy Val Hoyle data centers Box Elder County Great Salt Lake