AI PACs Have Dumped Nearly $1 Million Into an Obscure Senate Race

AI PACs Have Dumped Nearly $1 Million Into an Obscure Senate Race. Skip to main contentSave this storySave this storyMajor super PACs associated with AI labs and investors have poured close to $1 million into incumbent Republican Mike Rounds’s South Dakota senate race, seeking to shape the outcome of a noncompetitive race amid a critical national debate over AI regulation.

What happened

The reliably Republican South Dakota senate seat has an incumbent on the ballot. But PACs associated with AI labs and investors have already spent more money on the race than actual residents have. On Thursday, Leading the Future, the super PAC funded in part by OpenAI president Greg Brockman, along with investors Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreesen, announced that it would put $2 million towards a raft of Senate Republicans that have been supportive of the AI or crypto industry.

Peterson Foundation finds that 81% of respondents in states with competitive Senate races say they are more likely to vote for candidates with plans to avoid automatic Social Security benefit cuts than for a candidate "who promises not to touch Social Security. He has also received roughly $215,000 directly from the employees and super PACs affiliated with AI labs, most notably Anthropic, as well as a constellation of other tech companies including Google and Microsoft, according to FEC filings.

Rounds also ultimately endorsed adding restrictions on data centers, although his senior aide and former chief of staff, Robert Skjonsberg, is a registered lobbyist for Meta for matters before the South Dakota legislature. (Meta operates a network of data centers, though there isn’t currently a Meta-affiliated center in South Dakota. ) Rounds’ office told Politico that their general counsel consulted with the Senate ethics committee about the unusual arrangement and was told there was no conflict of interest.

" The online survey from the Peterson Foundation, a nonpartisan organization focused on addressing America's long-term fiscal challenges, included 2,500 registered voters in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas — states with Senate contests the group said it anticipates will be broadly competitive come November. Rounds has been the beneficiary this cycle of around $600,000 in spending by outside groups, with the vast majority of that figure coming from the super PAC Defend American Jobs, which receives funding from a super PAC financed by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

The wider picture

With fewer than 50 days until the midterm elections in November, recent polls show Rounds ahead of the independent candidate Brian Beng after the Democratic candidate Julian Beaudion dropped out last month. Rounds has so far raised more from tech groups than from donors in South Dakota, and this spending reflects a new effort by AI labs to deploy vast war chests to shape thorny issues on AI and the data centers that power it. Rounds has been viewed by AI executives as a top supporter of the industry, which could prove crucial in the next Congress when AI regulation is expected to become a top priority, according to congressional aides familiar with the matter.

It also appears to reflect how AI labs have become focused on keeping allies, which have been in short supply on Capitol Hill as lawmakers spring up a raft of bills as they react to public anxiety around AI safety concerns. A spokesperson for Rounds did not respond to a request for comment. In South Dakota, AI regulation is already a live issue after the state legislature passed a bill earlier this year forcing hyperscalers to bear a larger share of the water and energy costs associated with powering data centers.

Data centers have been the subject of a bitter fight among Republicans in the state legislature, which voted against giving tax breaks for equipment and software purchases required by data centers earlier this year, stalling construction of a planned development by Applied Digital, a company that builds and designs data centers. Concerns about data centers have been bipartisan across the country: A recent Gallup poll for instance found that seven out of 10 Americans are opposed to data center development, given their outsized draw upon water and energy resources that local communities often end up subsidizing.

What has been reported

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The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across wired.com, cnbc.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.