---
title: AI Firms Fund Opposing Sides of US Regulation Fight
description: Duelling AI-backed super PACs have committed more than $200 million to the 2026 US midterms, with Anthropic and its rivals funding opposing candidates.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-02-20T21:51:14.000Z
updated: 2026-02-26T17:55:06.788Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/ai-firms-fund-opposing-sides-of-us-regulation-fight
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/18510427.jpeg
categories: Politics, Artificial Intelligence
content_type: News
region: New York
publication: Sovereign Magazine
---

Anthropic has given $20 million to Public First Action, a bipartisan super PAC that backs candidates supporting [AI safety](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/sam-altman-admits-that-openai-doesn-t-actually-understand-how-its-ai-works) regulation. The donation puts the Claude developer directly at odds with Leading the Future, a rival super PAC funded by Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, which has raised $125 million to elect candidates favouring lighter oversight.

The first flashpoint is New York’s 12th congressional district, where both groups are spending on opposite sides of the same primary race.

## The candidate at the centre

Alex Bores, a Democratic New York Assemblyman and former Palantir software engineer, is running for the open seat vacated by Jerry Nadler in a crowded field of more than 10 candidates. Bores left Palantir in 2019 over the company’s contracts with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He authored the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act, which Governor Kathy Hochul signed on 19 December 2025. The law requires large AI developers to publish safety protocols and report critical [incidents to the state](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/pentagon-threatens-to-blacklist-anthropic-over-ai-guardrails) within 72 hours.

Public First Action is spending $450,000 to support Bores in the June primary. Leading the Future has released attack advertisements against him. Bores told NOTUS: ‘If they get that, that is worth a lot of money to them… in some sense it’s just a venture capital investment for them, because their returns could be trillions.’

## More than $200 million in play

The two groups represent opposing theories about what [AI regulation](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/how-the-next-us-president-should-handle-ai-and-automation) should look like. Leading the Future wants a single federal framework that would pre-empt state-level rules. Public First Action argues that minimum safety standards prevent a race to the bottom among developers.

Brad Carson, who co-founded Public First with former Republican congressman Chris Stewart, told NOTUS: ‘We have $50 million and 85% of the public sentiment. They have $100 million and 15% of the public opinion.’

The strategy mirrors the cryptocurrency industry’s success in the 2024 elections, when crypto-backed super PACs became the largest corporate political donors and helped elect sympathetic candidates across multiple races. Meta has separately launched the American Technology Excellence Project, a $65 million state-level super PAC targeting what the company calls overly burdensome AI bills. Combined AI industry political spending for the 2026 midterms now exceeds $200 million.

## What Europe already decided

The spending war is over requirements that the European Union has already legislated. The EU AI Act, adopted in 2024, mandates risk assessments, transparency obligations and incident reporting for high-risk AI systems. The RAISE Act’s core provisions (published safety protocols and mandatory incident disclosure) mirror requirements that EU law already imposes on frontier model developers.

In Europe, these rules passed through a legislative process with cross-party support. In the United States, they are being contested through campaign finance.

## Further Context

**Q: What is the RAISE Act for AI safety?**
The Responsible AI Safety and Education Act (S6953B/A6453B) is a New York state law signed by Governor Kathy Hochul on 19 December 2025. It requires the largest AI developers to create and publish safety and security protocols covering severe risks, including the potential for models to assist in bioweapon creation or automated criminal activity. Developers must report critical safety incidents to the state within 72 hours. The law was co-sponsored by Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblyman Alex Bores.

**Q: What is the EU AI Act?**
The EU AI Act is the world’s first comprehensive legal framework for artificial intelligence, adopted by the European Parliament in March 2024. It classifies AI systems by risk level and imposes graduated obligations, from minimal requirements for low-risk tools to strict transparency, conformity assessment and incident reporting for high-risk and general-purpose AI models. Enforcement is being phased in through 2026, with the European AI Office overseeing compliance for frontier models.