The AI industry has already spent $65 million ahead of the midterm elections with no signs of slowing down.

AI Companies and Executives Fund Super PACs Ahead of 2026 Midterms

The AI sector has directed more than $65 million through super PACs and affiliated groups ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Networks linked to executives at OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and venture firms have raised additional tens of millions that remain unspent. Disclosure rules for certain nonprofit organizations limit public visibility into some contributions.

Leading the Future operates as the largest network identified so far. Its primary super PAC reported receipts of just under $76 million through the end of June, according to Federal Election Commission records. Major contributions included $50 million from Andreessen Horowitz, $25 million combined from OpenAI President Greg Brockman and his wife Anna, $25 million combined from Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and $100,000 from Perplexity. Brockman described his approach to political contributions in a December 2025 post on X, stating that support for AI development does not equate to opposition to all regulation. OpenAI stated that Brockman’s activity occurred in his personal capacity.

The network maintains separate super PACs for each major party: Think Big for Democratic candidates and American Mission for Republican candidates. Leading the Future transferred $20 million to each of those entities. Additional contributions came from SV Angel founder Ron Conway ($500,000 to Think Big) and 8VC founder Joe Lonsdale ($250,000 to American Mission). The network announced in August 2025 its intention to function as a policy hub for the AI sector and to back candidates whose positions align with its stated agenda.

Think Big and American Mission together reported expenditures exceeding $29 million. Think Big accounted for more than $18 million, including roughly $8 million opposing New York Assemblyman Alex Bores in the Democratic primary for the state’s 12th congressional district. Bores had advocated for additional AI oversight during his legislative service. American Mission reported $10.7 million in spending, directed toward 19 Republican House candidates, with one of the larger individual outlays ($960,000) supporting Georgia Republican Jim Kingston. Leading the Future also maintains an allied nonprofit, Build American AI, which is not subject to the same regular donor disclosure requirements as the super PACs. The network retained more than $31 million in cash on hand as of the latest filings.

Public First was established by former Republican Representative Chris Stewart of Utah and former Democratic Representative Brad Carson of Oklahoma. The umbrella organization Public First Action oversees three super PACs and is not required to disclose its donors on the same schedule as traditional political committees. In June the group stated it had raised $80 million. Anthropic contributed $40 million, doubling an earlier $20 million donation made in February. The company cited rapid model development, including its Claude Mythos system, as context for the increased support. Anthropic specified that its contribution could not be used to influence any candidate election, while the affiliated super PACs conduct independent expenditures.

Public First Action and its super PACs reported combined spending above $19 million. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei contributed $1 million directly to one of the super PACs, with other Anthropic employees adding $2.1 million. Alignment Science team lead Jan Leike contributed $100,000 to Public First and an additional $400,000 to a related entity. The Democratic-leaning Jobs and Democracy PAC spent just under $20 million, with more than $15 million allocated to Bores’s primary campaign and $1.6 million supporting North Carolina Representative Valerie Foushee. The Republican-leaning Defending Our Values PAC spent $5 million, including more than $1.4 million on Texas candidate Carlos De La Cruz and roughly $1 million on Utah Representative Celeste Maloy. Public First Action and Public First together transferred more than $5.2 million to Defending Our Values PAC.

Meta has established two separate organizations to participate in the same cycle. Details on the structure, funding levels, and specific expenditures of those groups were not fully reported in available filings at the time of writing. The company has not issued a public statement linking the entities to a broader regulatory strategy.

Total spending across all identified AI-linked groups exceeds $65 million, with additional reserves held by Leading the Future and Public First Action. Further outlays are expected as the election cycle continues. Some state-level activity, including New York’s recent data-center measure signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, has occurred outside the federal super PAC framework. The Trump administration has maintained a generally permissive stance toward AI development while delaying releases of certain frontier models from Anthropic and OpenAI. Both companies continue to monitor potential policy responses to open-weight models developed in China.

Reporting on these financial flows relies on FEC filings, public statements from the companies and executives involved, and announcements issued by the super PACs themselves. Additional contributions routed through nondisclosing nonprofits may alter the final totals once later reports become available.