OpenAI and Anthropic-aligned super PACs have spent $55.7M on the US midterms so far; of 95 ads, all avoided reference to data centers and only some mentioned AI
Context & Ripple Effects
Anthropic seeded Public First with a $20 million contribution in February, while Public First Action began advertising for AI regulation in New Jersey. By May, Public First and OpenAI-aligned Leading the Future were already engaged in a sharp contest for influence over midterm races, particularly Democratic primaries.
The review of 95 ads shows that the political campaign has broadened beyond explicit AI-policy messaging: the aligned PACs have spent heavily while leaving data centers out of their electoral pitch.
First-order effects
- OpenAI- and Anthropic-aligned PACs have deployed $55.7 million in midterm spending, giving both labs a substantial indirect presence in contested campaigns.
- By omitting data centers from all 95 ads and mentioning AI in only some, the PACs frame their election activity around issues other than the infrastructure tied to the industry.
Second-order effects
- Candidates and voters receive PAC-funded messages without a direct accounting of the data-center stakes associated with the companies backing the groups, separating electoral persuasion from a central AI-policy dispute.
- Leading the Future and Public First can compete for influence across races without making their competing AI agendas the explicit subject of every ad, complicating efforts by advocates to contest those agendas on the campaign trail.
Third-order effects
- If this messaging approach persists, AI governance may be shaped increasingly through general-purpose political spending rather than direct public debate over model rules and infrastructure buildout.
- The pattern points toward frontier AI labs treating electoral organizations as a durable policy channel, alongside their public arguments over AI guardrails and transparency.
The trend: Frontier AI companies are building state-facing political capacity while keeping the most contentious infrastructure questions outside much of their campaign advertising.