AI's biggest 2026 election fight

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei drew unexpected attention last week at a global AI summit in India. Their body language spoke louder than words ever could.

What was meant to be a photo-op demonstrating unity with hands held high ended with two of the most powerful chief executives in Big Tech clenching their fists instead. Now, the simmering feud between Altman and Amodei is extending to the 2026 campaign trail and beyond.

OpenAI and Anthropic are raising enormous sums of campaign cash and mobilizing to leave a mark on the November midterm elections. Super PACs with ties to AI firms began sprouting last year as lawmakers showed interest in regulating the fast-evolving sector.

What’s emerging lately is the AI industry’s first true Washington spending war: rival labs, their investors, and aligned advocacy groups are beginning to treat AI regulation notjust as a fight over policy but as an electoral battleground — one where campaign dollars could shape which party controls Congress and how aggressively lawmakers move to police the technology.

On Monday, Anthropic’s latest political move was putting its seal of approval on a moderate Democrat known for pro-business ties: Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, a co-chair of the House Democratic Commission on AI.

Like many Democratic lawmakers, Gottheimer has been curious but not overbearing towards AI regulation. He  said last year he wanted “appropriate carveouts” for states to enact AI policies while not closing the door for Congress to act.

The endorsement offers an early glimpse of how that spending war may play out at the Congressional district level.

“He can make sure A.I. serves us, not the other way around,” the new 30-second ad from Public First Action, a political nonprofit running the super PAC operation, said. It urged New Jersey voters to contact Gottheimer to oppose legislation that would bar states from drafting rules protecting against AI scams.

Anthropic is following OpenAI’s path in deepening its political footprint. It announced earlier this month it was donating $20 million to support candidates who favor AI guardrails through Public First Action. “We don’t want to sit on the sidelines while these policies are developed,” Anthropic said.

It’s not strictly a pro-Democratic group either: Public First Action is led by Brad Carson and Chris Stewart, a former Democratic and Republican lawmaker, respectively. It’s already backing Republicans as well. The organization has been running ads for GOP Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska.

An early battleground in New York

Anthropic’s New Jersey push is only one front in a broader contest for influence.

OpenAI and Anthropic are facing off through their super PACs in New York’s 12th Congressional District in what’s fast becoming an early battleground between AI giants.

New York Assembly member Alex Bores is caught in the middle of a contested primary to replace Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler. Bores has been a staunch advocate for more guardrails on AI. He was also chief architect of a set of state AI regulatory laws.

Public First Action’s Democratic arm jumped into the race last week with $450,000 to back up Bores. Leading the Future has spent $1.1 million in TV ads and other messages attempting to defeat him so far.

“I think these Trump mega-donors who are attacking me are terrified of having someone in Congress that’s already beaten them,” Bores said last week in a CNN interview.

Leading the Future — a pro-AI super PAC backed by OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and investment firm Andreessen Horowitz — has committed to spending more than $100 million in this year’s federal races.

Brockman said last month he and his wife Anna wanted to ensure a “constructive dialogue” between the federal government and the tech sector. “Being pro-AI does not mean being anti-regulation. It means being thoughtful,” Brockman said.

There are already signs of a scorched-earth campaign taking root. Leading the Future was quick to trash its rival super PAC after their endorsement of Gottheimer.

“This is Sam Bankman-Fried 2.0 with the same people, with the same funding, advancing the same self-serving agenda,” the group wrote in a social media post, referring to the disgraced ex-crypto mogul serving 25 years in jail for fraud related to the FTX crypto firm collapse.

AI firms, executives and entities with ties to the industry poured $83 million in federal elections last year, according to The New York Times. That figure could easily double this year.

Leading the Future has already signaled it’s expecting at least $50 million more from the Brockmans and Andreessen Horowitz in the first quarter of this year. Their pro-AI efforts could cause some lawmakers to soften their AI stances in fear of inviting a flood of campaign spending against them. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio lost his 2024 re-election bid in part due to crypto interests mobilizing against him.

“The fear of being tagged with AI or tech attacks may deter some policymakers from taking stances that would be considered a regulatory burden to tech companies,” Alex Jacquez, an ex-Biden aide who is now chief of policy at the left-leaning Groundwork Collaborative, told Quartz.

If that dynamic takes hold, the fight over AI policy may be decided as much by campaign cash and political muscle as by the technology’s risks or benefits.

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