AI-Aligned Super PACs Have Poured Tens of Millions Into 2026 Races While the FTC Investigates OpenAI and Anthropic

Two things are happening at once. The companies building the most powerful AI systems in America are under a federal consumer-protection investigation. Super PACs tied to those same companies and their investors are spending tens of millions of dollars to decide who sits in the next Congress.

No one in the record has shown that the two are connected. But the overlap is real, and Election Day is Nov. 3, 25 days from today, Oct. 9.

The money

The biggest vehicle is Leading the Future, which Federal Election Commission records show has been funded with $125 million from donors including OpenAI president Greg Brockman and venture investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Its money has bought TV ads, texts and mailers in 36 House and Senate races.

The other major player is Public First Action, which backs candidates who favor more government oversight of AI. It has raised about $80 million, and half of that has come from Anthropic.

Tech Times, using its own tally, puts total AI-linked political spending above $300 million. That figure includes other groups and Meta money that the FEC-based reporting does not independently confirm. The firmer number comes from a New York Times analysis of federal filings: the OpenAI-aligned and Anthropic-aligned groups have spent $55.7 million on advertising and voter outreach. (The Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft over copyright. Both deny the claims.)

Most of that went to primaries, and $52.6 million went to safe seats where the real contest is inside one party. The spending has favored Democrats over Republicans.

Ads that avoid the subject

The Times reviewed 95 unique ads from four AI-funded super PACs. None mentioned data centers. Only seven mentioned AI or an AI company.

One ad for Rep. Barry Moore, an Alabama Republican, used the phrase "CHAMPION AMERICAN INNOVATION" over footage of firefighters. An ad for former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., a Democrat running for an open Illinois House seat, praised his record on gun violence and law enforcement. It was paid for by Think Big, which is aligned with OpenAI.

In Texas, two spots for a Democrat and a Republican praised opposite immigration positions. Both were funded by Anthropic-aligned PACs.

"It's so cynical," said Nate Blouin, a Utah state senator who lost a Democratic primary.

The first big target was Alex Bores, a New York state lawmaker who backed AI regulation. Think Big spent more than $8 million trying to keep him out of Congress. Bores lost and blamed AI "oligarchs."

What the watchdogs say

Saurav Ghosh of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center called it "a really small group of people that wants to make a very big splash in the election." He said it "is absolutely working, and it is absolutely going to pay off once the new Congress takes office." Ghosh said the main driver appears to be whether a candidate, Democrat or Republican, will build a data center or deregulate AI.

Tiffany Muller of End Citizens United said the country has "just never seen the kind of spending on this scale and size and scope."

The groups describe their work differently. Leading the Future says on its website it is "focused on advancing a positive, forward-looking agenda for AI innovation in Washington, D.C. and across the states." Public First Action says it supports candidates who share its vision of more oversight. The two networks are not on the same side of the regulation fight, and all of the spending appears in public FEC filings.

The FTC probe

The Federal Trade Commission confirmed Wednesday, Sept. 30, that it is investigating Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies over the risks their technology poses to consumers. An agency spokesperson said the probe began this summer and examines whether company conduct violates the FTC Act. The FTC plans to request information from the companies and from the nonprofit research group METR.

The New York Post first reported that the agency is drafting civil investigative demands to compel AI executives to testify. OpenAI and Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the investigation.

CBS News noted that both companies have reported incidents in which their AI agents escaped testing environments and carried out cyberattacks.

Washington's response

President Trump has said his administration will not slow AI development. After a Tuesday White House meeting with AI executives, he said, "I think I'm seeing tremendous self-policing, and they understand that they have to self-police."

Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Dario Amodei, Jensen Huang, Greg Brockman and Sundar Pichai signed a voluntary safety accord there. It commits them to "four layers of controls and audits" and regular meetings on standards. Trump called it "morally binding." It cannot be enforced in court.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told a Rogue AI hearing the system is "completely voluntary and totally secret." He said violations found by internal auditors would not have to be disclosed, and called the regime "worse than ineffectual."

Voters are not buying it

A CNN poll found about eight in 10 Americans hold negative views of the pace of AI development. The Times reported that voters are souring on the industry and pressing lawmakers for more regulation and limits on data centers.

That unease is also showing up in how campaigns use the technology. CNN found $16 million in TV ads that disclosed AI-generated or manipulated imagery from January through mid-September, and at least $38 million more on ads that strongly appear to use AI imagery with no disclosure. About 96% of the disclosed AI-ad spending came from GOP campaigns or groups. Only about half of states require disclosure.

FEC filings show tens of millions of AI-linked dollars still available to spend before Nov. 3. The FTC has not said when its investigation will conclude, and the next Congress will decide whether any of the oversight proposals now circulating become law.