The Biggest Pro-AI Super PAC Network Didn’t Really Impact the Midterms

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Leading the Future, the biggest pro-AI super PAC network, is walking away from the midterm elections with just over $20 million still in the bank and a roster of dozens of successful congressional candidates from both sides of the aisle.

Leading the Future 是最大的支持人工智能超级政治行动委员会（super PAC）网络，在期中选举结束后，其账面上仍有超过 2000 万美元的资金，并拥有一份由两党数十名成功当选的国会议员组成的名单。

At first glance, that looks like a win. The details tell another story, though. The donations went overwhelmingly to safe candidates, and the results in the small handful of riskier races that Leading the Future got involved with indicate that its plans to shape the election fell flat.

乍看之下，这似乎是一场胜利。然而，细节却讲述了另一个故事。这些捐款绝大多数流向了稳操胜券的候选人，而在 Leading the Future 参与的少数风险较高的竞选中，其结果表明该组织试图左右选举的计划以失败告终。

When Leading the Future entered the scene in August 2025 vowing to “oppose policies that stifle innovation,” it had a war chest of around $100 million thanks to some of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech billionaires—including Andreessen Horowitz, Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, and OpenAI’s Greg Brockman—and was led by major political strategists.

当 Leading the Future 于 2025 年 8 月登场并誓言“反对扼杀创新的政策”时，得益于硅谷一些最大的科技亿万富翁（包括 Andreessen Horowitz、Palantir 联合创始人 Joe Lonsdale 和 OpenAI 的 Greg Brockman）的支持，它拥有约 1 亿美元的竞选资金，并由主要的政治策略家领导。

Designed as a “structured ecosystem,” it set a goal of having ”maximum flexibility to engage in the 2026 election cycle and beyond.” The network is made up of 501(c)(4) organizations and federal and state super PACs catering to both sides of the aisle: American Mission largely gives to Republicans, while Think Big largely gives to Democrats. Its structure and overlapping strategists quickly drew comparisons to Fairshake, a massive, well-funded pro-crypto super PAC network that dominated in the 2024 election.

作为一个“结构化生态系统”，它设定的目标是拥有“参与 2026 年选举周期及以后的最大灵活性”。该网络由 501(c)(4) 组织以及迎合两党的联邦和州级超级政治行动委员会组成：American Mission 主要向共和党人捐款，而 Think Big 主要向民主党人捐款。其结构和重叠的策略家很快让人将其与 Fairshake 相提并论，后者是一个在 2024 年选举中占据主导地位、资金雄厚的支持加密货币的超级政治行动委员会网络。

“They came out guns a-blazing, saying, ‘Be afraid, we are going to spend our millions to influence not only how lawmakers legislate us but also against you in your primaries and in your reelection,’” Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, tells WIRED. ”The purpose of that was to bully lawmakers into acquiescence, intimidate them into not sticking their necks out on AI safety or tech industry regulation at all.”

“他们气势汹汹地出现，声称：‘感到害怕吧，我们将花费数百万美元，不仅要影响立法者如何为我们立法，还要在你们的初选和连任竞选中针对你们，’”科技监督项目（Tech Oversight Project）执行董事萨莎·霍沃斯（Sacha Haworth）告诉《连线》（WIRED）。“其目的是欺凌立法者使其默许，恐吓他们不要在人工智能安全或科技行业监管问题上出头。”

Leading the Future did not respond to requests for comment.

Leading the Future 没有回应置评请求。

Late last year, Leading the Future took on Democrat Alex Bores, a former Palantir engineer and state lawmaker running in New York’s 12th congressional district on an AI safety platform, spending millions of dollars in attack ads against his primary bid.

去年年底，Leading the Future 将矛头对准了民主党人亚历克斯·博尔斯（Alex Bores）。博尔斯曾是 Palantir 的工程师，也是一名州议员，他以人工智能安全为竞选纲领在纽约第 12 国会选区参选。该组织花费数百万美元投放攻击性广告，试图阻挠他的初选竞选。

“They fully expected to bury him, put his head on a spike, and parade it around as proof that they could,” says Haworth. Instead, Bores’ candidacy became a high-profile proxy war between competing AI philosophies, boosting his profile and platform. The pro-AI safety network Public First, which has significant financial backing from Anthropic, spent $15 million boosting Bores’ candidacy. Though Bores didn’t win, he came second in a crowded primary field to another candidate, Micah Lasher, who campaigned on tech accountability and AI safety.

“他们完全指望埋葬他，把他的头挂在长矛上，并以此作为他们能力的证明四处游行，”霍沃斯说。然而，博尔斯的参选反而成为了一场关于相互竞争的人工智能理念的高调代理人战争，提升了他的知名度和纲领。获得 Anthropic 大力资助的支持人工智能安全网络 Public First 花费了 1500 万美元来支持博尔斯的竞选。尽管博尔斯没有获胜，但在拥挤的初选领域中，他仅次于另一位以科技问责和人工智能安全为竞选纲领的候选人迈卡·拉舍（Micah Lasher），位列第二。

Leading the Future spent about $26 million in independent expenditures on the primaries alone. But spending tapered off as it headed into the general election, as the network dropped about $10 million in total while overwhelmingly backing candidates in safe races. Its funding also dropped off, with the network reporting zero donations in the second and third quarters.

仅在初选中，Leading the Future 就花费了约 2600 万美元的独立支出。但随着进入大选，其支出有所减少，该网络总共投入了约 1000 万美元，且绝大多数用于支持稳操胜券的候选人。其资金来源也随之减少，该网络报告称第二和第三季度没有收到任何捐款。

The strategy seems to have shifted around the same time that stark polling began coming back showing widespread distrust of Big Tech and cronyism in Washington, DC. (An NBC exit poll found that 56 percent of voters said AI and data centers played a “major” role in their vote.)

这一策略似乎在大约同一时间发生了转变，当时严峻的民调结果开始显示出人们对大型科技公司和华盛顿特区的裙带关系的普遍不信任。（NBC 的一项出口民调发现，56% 的选民表示人工智能和数据中心在他们的投票中发挥了“重大”作用。）

Backing safe candidates was, simply put, “an influence play,” says Haworth. ”They’re trying to ingratiate themselves with incoming members of Congress.”

霍沃斯说，支持稳操胜券的候选人简而言之就是“一种影响力博弈”。“他们正试图讨好新当选的国会议员。”

The co-founder of Public First Action says that the midterms marked a victory for AI safety. “Voters in both parties delivered the same verdict tonight,” says Brad Carson. “This is a crushing blow to the AI industry’s anti-regulatory efforts to buy a Congress that would look the other way.”

Public First Action 的联合创始人表示，期中选举标志着人工智能安全的胜利。“两党的选民今晚给出了相同的裁决，”布拉德·卡森（Brad Carson）说。“这对人工智能行业试图收买国会以使其对监管视而不见的努力是一个沉重的打击。”

Results weren’t great in the riskier races that Leading the Future jumped into.

在 Leading the Future 参与的风险较高的竞选中，结果并不理想。

One of its biggest bets was on Darline Graham, the sister of the late senator Lindsey Graham and an incumbent running to serve a full term in South Carolina. Graham earned the moniker “Data Center Darline” from her Democratic opponent Annie Andrews due to her enthusiastic support of AI and data center expansion. American Mission donated more than $2 million to Graham, who ultimately lost with 46.5 percent in a state that last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1998.

它最大的赌注之一是达琳·格雷厄姆（Darline Graham），她是已故参议员林赛·格雷厄姆（Lindsey Graham）的妹妹，也是一名在南卡罗来纳州竞选完整任期的现任议员。由于格雷厄姆对人工智能和数据中心扩张的热情支持，她的民主党对手安妮·安德鲁斯（Annie Andrews）给她起了个绰号叫“数据中心达琳”。American Mission 向格雷厄姆捐赠了超过 200 万美元，但她最终以 46.5% 的得票率落败，而该州上一次选出民主党参议员还是在 1998 年。

Of the other toss-up House races that Leading the Future weighed in on, almost all were in support of Republican candidates through the American Mission super PAC. The exception was Democratic Florida representative Jared Moskowitz’s reelection campaign, which it funded through Think Big. Moskowitz won by 13,000 votes against challenger Scott Singer, the former mayor of Boca Raton.

在 Leading the Future 参与的其他势均力敌的众议院竞选中，几乎所有竞选都是通过 American Mission 超级政治行动委员会支持共和党候选人。唯一的例外是佛罗里达州民主党众议员贾里德·莫斯科维茨（Jared Moskowitz）的连任竞选，该组织通过 Think Big 为其提供了资金。莫斯科维茨以 13,000 票的优势击败了挑战者、博卡拉顿前市长斯科特·辛格（Scott Singer）。

In North Carolina’s 1st congressional district, Leading the Future through American Mission backed Republican Laurie Buckhout, a retired Army colonel who served as an assistant secretary of defense working on cyber policy under President Donald Trump in 2025, in her primary. Guardrails Alliance, another player in the AI safety network, backed her opponent, Democrat Don Davis, who previously cosponsored a bill that would limit tax giveaways for data center development. Davis won.

在北卡罗来纳州第 1 国会选区，Leading the Future 通过 American Mission 在初选中支持了共和党人劳里·巴克豪特（Laurie Buckhout），她是一位退役陆军上校，曾在 2025 年唐纳德·特朗普总统任内担任负责网络政策的国防部助理部长。人工智能安全网络中的另一个参与者 Guardrails Alliance 支持了她的对手、民主党人唐·戴维斯（Don Davis），戴维斯此前曾共同发起了一项限制数据中心开发税收优惠的法案。戴维斯获胜。

Leading the Future also backed Aaron Flint, a retired combat veteran, conservative commentator, and former state director for Republican representative Ryan Zinke, who was running in Montana’s first congressional district. Flint conceded to his Democratic opponent Sam Forstag, a Democratic wildland firefighter who landed endorsements from major progressives including Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and advocated for strict federal oversight of AI. (The Associated Press has yet to call the race.)

Leading the Future 还支持了亚伦·弗林特（Aaron Flint），他是一位退役战斗老兵、保守派评论员，曾担任共和党众议员瑞安·津克（Ryan Zinke）的州主任，他在蒙大拿州第 1 国会选区参选。弗林特向他的民主党对手萨姆·福斯塔格（Sam Forstag）认输。福斯塔格是一位民主党荒野消防员，获得了包括亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯（Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez）在内的主要进步派人士的支持，并主张对人工智能进行严格的联邦监管。（美联社尚未宣布该选区的最终结果。）

American Mission Florida, a state-level super PAC in the Leading the Future network, got $3 million in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds. While both Donalds and opponent David Jolly took nuanced approaches to the AI safety issue, they diverged strongly on the issue.

American Mission Florida 是 Leading the Future 网络中的一个州级超级政治行动委员会，获得了 300 万美元用于支持共和党州长候选人拜伦·唐纳兹（Byron Donalds）。虽然唐纳兹和对手大卫·乔利（David Jolly）在人工智能安全问题上都采取了细致入微的方法，但他们在该问题上存在严重分歧。