OpenAI, Anthropic-aligned PACs spent $55.7M on 2026 midterms

Political groups aligned with OpenAI and Anthropic have spent $55.7 million on the 2026 US midterms so far, according to a New York Times tally. Of the 95 ads the two networks have placed, none reference data centers, and only some mention AI at all.

$52.6 million of that spending has gone to safe seats, with the money concentrated almost entirely in the primaries.

"One major super PAC funded in part by an OpenAI executive bought millions in ads without mentioning AI or data centers in any of its broadcast spots," the Times reports.

The two sides are well established. Leading the Future, backed by OpenAI President Greg Brockman along with Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, wants fewer AI rules. Public First, funded with at least $20 million from Anthropic, is pushing for guardrails and transparency. Leading the Future has an affiliated group, Build American AI, that has said it will run pro-data-center ads in Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin. The 95 ads the Times counted so far did not talk about data centers.

This is the second industry-money read of the day for us, arriving alongside our writeup of Meta's 2025 federal tax bill after the company reclassified data-center work as experimental research.