AI super PAC spending reshapes Manhattan House primary

Artificial intelligence interests are pouring tens of millions of dollars into the 2026 midterms, turning a Manhattan congressional primary into the most visible test yet of how the industry will try to shape the first major wave of AI regulation.

AI-focused super PACs have spent about $43.3 million to $44 million on congressional races this cycle, according to OpenSecrets and The Guardian, after raising roughly $100 million. Nearly half of that spending has converged on New York’s 12th Congressional District, where Democratic Assemblymember Alex Bores is running to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler.

The district, a heavily Democratic seat stretching through the heart of Manhattan, will hold its primary Tuesday. The race has drawn more than $15 million in AI-backed spending for and against Bores, according to Federal Election Commission filings cited by NPR.

Bores, 35, is a former Palantir employee who co-sponsored New York’s Responsible AI Safety and Education Act, known as the RAISE Act. The law requires major AI developers to report safety incidents and publish information on safeguards. In a campaign video, Bores called the race “the first congressional race in the country where the dividing line is: can we regulate AI at all?”

The attack on Bores has been led by Think Big, an affiliate of Leading the Future, a bipartisan network of super PACs created to back “pro-AI” candidates. The Guardian reported that Think Big has spent $8.2 million in the primary. Leading the Future has raised more than $75 million and is mainly funded by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, an OpenAI investor, and OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman, according to NPR. The Guardian reported that its $75 million war chest comes from four donors: Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Greg Brockman and Anna Brockman.

Leading the Future says it opposes policies that “stifle innovation, enable China to gain global AI superiority, or make it harder to bring AI’s benefits into the world.” One anti-Bores ad argued that laws such as the RAISE Act would create a “chaotic patchwork of state rules that would crush innovation.” The group supports a national approach to AI standards and safeguards.

On the other side is Public First, a network of super PACs aligned against Leading the Future. Anthropic, an AI company founded by former OpenAI employees, announced in February that it was contributing $20 million to a related nonprofit, Public First Action, which “opposes federal efforts to freeze state progress without adequate federal safeguards.” Anthropic said it did not want to “sit on the sidelines” while AI policy is developed.

Public First-affiliated PACs, including Jobs and Democracy and Defending Our Values, have spent $16.6 million so far on congressional races in states including North Carolina, Texas and Utah, according to OpenSecrets. In New York, Public First-linked groups and other tech-funded PACs, including crypto billionaire Chris Larsen’s You Can Push Back, have spent millions countering the anti-Bores campaign.

Brad Carson, a former Democratic congressman from Oklahoma who founded Public First, described the race to The Guardian as “the AI civil war.” He said Leading the Future’s message was: regulate AI, “and we will find you, wherever you are.”

The spending reflects broader divides inside the AI industry. OpenAI and Anthropic compete for funding, employees and customers, and NPR reported that both are planning large initial public offerings later this year. Molly White, an independent researcher and tech industry critic, said the political fight “really mirrors the corporate competition between OpenAI and Anthropic” and their differing approaches to AI development and safety.

The money is not limited to New York. Leading the Future has spent $23.5 million on dozens of races through super PACs including Think Big and American Mission, according to OpenSecrets. Public First has backed candidates in Utah, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina, including lawmakers involved in AI policy. Meta is funding super PACs aimed at AI policy in Texas and California, while Google and Meta are backing another California-focused super PAC, NPR reported.

Congress has not passed broad AI legislation despite bipartisan agreement that the technology requires a policy response. “Almost everyone in Washington agrees AI is transformative and requires some kind of policy response,” said Nicole Alvarez, a senior tech policy analyst at the Center for American Progress. “The real fight is what governance looks like.”

AI firms are also spending heavily on lobbying. OpenAI, Meta, Google parent Alphabet and Nvidia spent a combined $50.9 million lobbying Congress in 2025, according to Issue One. Anthropic more than quadrupled its first-quarter lobbying spending from a year earlier to $1.56 million, while OpenAI nearly doubled its outlays to $1.02 million.

“This type of spending really helps shape who is at the table and what perspectives they are bringing into those conversations when new legislation is crafted,” said Michael Beckel, Issue One’s director of money in politics reform.