Tech moguls close to Trump see the midterms as a path to long-term power [View all]

Source: Washington Post

The largest of the pro-AI super PACs, Leading the Future, has a war chest of more than $100 million from prominent investors and executives. It has an affiliated nonprofit that launched a $10 million campaign last month to pressure Congress to pass legislation that would unleash American AI companies to innovate faster and challenge China.

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The group plans to support and oppose candidates in congressional and state elections next year. It will also fund rapid response operations against voices in the industry pushing for more oversight. The super PAC is funded by tech elites, including the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, whose co-founder Marc Andreessen is a Trump adviser and supporter; Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, a friend to Vice President JD Vance; and the president of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Greg Brockman, and his wife.

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The strategy aims to replicate the success of the cryptocurrency industry, which used a super PAC to clear a path for Congress this summer to boost the sector’s fortunes with the passage of the Genius Act.

The crypto industry’s reputation had previously plummeted after fraud convictions at crypto exchange FTX in 2023. To fix it, investors and companies backed a super PAC called Fairshake that aggressively challenged candidates who didn’t back its agenda. The group helped defeat left-leaning Democrats, spending $10 million to defeat Rep. Katie Porter in her Senate campaign in California and $40 million to unseat then-Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/12/19/tech-super-pacs-midterms-ai/