webodec3ARCHIVEPreview
Open in TheBrain

fairshake Leading Future

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CRYPTO LOBBY DARK MONEY --> AI

REV DR STAFF CUIMO SCHUMER VLASTO

BROCKMAN DIALOG THIEL LONSDALE

A16

RIPPLE

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11 26

Tech Influence Watch Tech Influence Watch

Industry contributions

$506.7 million

from tracked cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence industry companies and individualsⓘ

PAC funds on hand

$386.9 million

held by crypto- and AI-focused committees

PAC spending

$249.6 million

spent directly on federal elections this cycle

These three figures aren’t additive — they show the same money at three different stages, as it flows from donors to PACs to elections. » Follow the money flow

...

Top races influenced by crypto and AI industry super PAC money

» All races with crypto and AI industry spending

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11 26

Featured Tracker

Quid pro quo

Besides their Congressional election spending, companies have poured billions into Trump and his family. Enforcement cases were dropped, investigations were closed, and industries were invited to write their own regulations.

$5.4 billion+

to Trump & family by tracked entities

View full tracker →

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11 26

Notable patterns

Cross-sector · 32 races · $138.4M

Crypto and AI PACs are spending in the same races, often through the same two committees

32 races have seen spending from both crypto and AI PACs, totaling more than $138.4 million. The most common pairing is Defend American Jobs (the Republican arm of the FairShake crypto super PAC network) and American Mission (the Republican arm of the Leading the Future AI PAC network), which have spent in 15 of these races, always supporting the same candidate. The two PACs share strategists and backers.

Intra-sector conflict · NY-H-12, MA-H-06, AZ-H-01, MT-H-01, NC-H-01

AI PACs have turned on each other in five House races this cycle

AI PACs have spent $32 million across these races. Each one pits the OpenAI– and Andreessen Horowitz–backed Leading the Future network against other AI PACs, and the largest fight was over Alex Bores in New York’s District 12.

Party lean · crypto vs. AI

Crypto PAC support leans Republican, AI PAC support leans Democratic

Crypto PACs have spent $84 million supporting Republicans and $31.1 million supporting Democrats (73% Republican, 27% Democrat). AI PACs have spent $35.7 million for Democrats and $28 million for Republicans (44% Republican, 56% Democrat).

Opposition spending · $70.9M

Most negative spending targets Democrats

Of the money spent opposing candidates rather than supporting them, $53.6 million has gone against Democrats, $13.5 million against Dan Osborn, an independent challenging Republican Senator Pete Ricketts in Nebraska, and just $3.7 million against Republicans. The largest target is Ohio Senate candidate Sherrod Brown ($24 million).

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AN 9 26 CRYPTO KRuGMAN

On Tuesday, a Nobel Prize-winning economist warned that a “scheme” is in the works to influence the midterm results and buy the favor of the winning candidates, having already bought favor with President Donald Trump and his sons. This is according to Paul Krugman, who warns that while cryptocurrency “has not succeeded in creating a viable business in the normal sense, it has been extraordinarily successful at buying political influence – and they’re set to do it again.”

“The midterm elections look – based upon polling, based upon just impressions – look like a big blue wave,” says Krugman. “Elliot Morris gives the Democrats a 97 percent chance of taking the House and two-to-one odds of taking the Senate. But there’s still a few weeks to go and it looks like there’s a big wave of right-wing money that’s going to come crashing in. We don’t know how effective that will be. The role of money in politics, particularly of last-minute advertising blitzes, is somewhat unclear. But it is coming and crypto is going to be a pretty big part of it.” He notes that the crypto industry spent big in 2024 and is poised to spend even more in 2026 – an unusual move for a midterm cycle.

“But this industry is going to go all in,” asserts Krugman. “The crypto political strategy has been to knock out candidates that it considers hostile, and that is a strategy that was very effective in the last election cycle.” He explains that the crypto industry spent big to defeat crypto-skeptical Democrats in favor of potential allies, whether Republican or Democrat. In Ohio, for example, the crypto industry spent $38 million to flip a blue Senate seat red, and this year they’ve spent another $30 million to prevent Democrat Sherrod Brown from winning the seat back.

“Crypto became seen in Washington as a force to be afraid of” after victories like Ohio, but according to Krugman, it is “still barely used for legitimate transactions.” Instead, he explains, it is “pretty much only for criminal activities, including, by the way, Iranian efforts to bypass U.S. sanctions.” According to the Federal Reserve, notes Krugman, only 2 percent of Americans have actually used crypto to buy something other than assets, “but the political effectiveness has been huge, and it has intimidated a lot of politicians. Back in February, Chuck Schumer warned his colleagues not to do too much to offend Fairshake, the big crypto lobbying group. Crypto has also, in addition to campaign contributions, done a lot of what in the old days we would call bribery. There’s a lot of money that flows from the crypto industry to politicians and their relatives, and not just Trump… it’s an industry that has developed a really effective political strategy. They couldn’t actually produce stuff, but if we count the $1.4 billion or so that Trump personally has made from crypto as part of its campaign contributions, then crypto may be the biggest single political financial force out there.”

If the blue wave does come, warns Krugman, the crypto industry will not stop peddling its influence just because a particular seat has turned Democrat, and it may even resort to outright “bribery.” But, he asserts, buying Democratic influence is “a completely different universe from the Trumpian Republican Party, and so the crypto industry knows that if Democrats really do sweep, if this is a blue wave which brings them not just the House but the Senate, it will be a less favorable environment, so their scam will be greatly endangered.”

So as crypto seeks to exert its influence after the election, concludes Krugman, “I guess we’re going to learn something about how much of a democracy we remain. I mean, yes, a vote is a vote, even if it’s a vote that was influenced by money, but we’re going to find out: can a wave of largely corrupt money – clearly totally corrupt in the case of crypto, but largely corrupt in other cases – can a wave of corrupt money stop a popular electoral uprising against a really disastrous administration and its allies in Congress?”

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PUB CIT REPORT 7 26

Corporate Supremacist Super PACs

Cryptocurrency corporations drove the surge in 2024 corporate election spending, ultimately putting more than $170 million toward intervening in congressional races across the country and accounting for more than a third of the total sum of corporate money spent during that cycle.

Most of the 2026 surge also is attributable to the crypto sector, along with other sectors following crypto’s 2024 playbook of channeling millions into super PACs. These super PACs prioritize the interests of their business backers over either major political party or any candidate. Following the crypto playbook, they are set up to engage in both Democratic and Republican primaries and to support or attack candidates of either major party in the general election. This relatively new crop of corporate supremacist super PACs makes their prioritization of corporate self-interest explicit:

Together, the crypto, AI, Big Tech, and online betting corporations have spent $294 million – 57% of the total 2026 midterm spending by corporations so far. Most of their spending (60%) has backed these corporate supremacist super PACs (see Table 1).

...

It Takes a 'Very Stable Genius' to Push the Genius Act

The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com › 2025/07/29 › opinion › tru...

Jul 29, 2025 — Donald Trump is cashing in on crypto. Over the last nine months, beginning slightly before the election, he has stirred up new ventures, new ...Read more

Missing: SCHUMER ‎| Show results with: SCHUMER

How the Crypto Industry's Political Spending Is Paying Off

The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com › 2025/04/12 › technology

Apr 12, 2025 — At the end of a three-hour hearing last month, Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, sided with a group of Republicans in a hotly ...Read more

AI Overview

+5

The terms you listed intersect in the context of the massive cryptocurrency lobbying push and the ongoing legislative battle in the U.S. Senate over the digital asset market structure. The Washington Post +1

A breakdown of how your keywords connect:

For more insight into how this money and lobbying is shaping digital asset policy, read the CNBC Report on the PAC war chest or the deep dive into the legislative landscape by the New York Times.

SEDER 7 15 26

John Blasto uh named who used to

48:41

48 minutes, 41 seconds

be the chief of staff for Andrew Cuomo and is now a top staffer for the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck

48:47

48 minutes, 47 seconds

Schumer, who said last year that they are building a strategy to ensure that quote pro- crypto voices are heard in

48:55

48 minutes, 55 seconds

key races all across the country. So this is the top of the Democratic party endorsing corrupting cryptocurrency money in primaries.

GGL 6 26

AI Overview

Leading the Future (LTF) is a powerful super PAC funded by Silicon Valley titans to support AI-friendly candidates and promote light-touch, national AI regulation. With over $100 million in backing, it is one of the most heavily capitalized political forces in the midterm elections. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Key Donors and Backers

Political Strategy & Opposition

Leading the Future supports candidates from both parties who favor a uniform national policy rather than a fragmented, state-by-state regulatory approach. The PAC has spent heavily in both Republican and Democratic primaries, often targeting candidates who authored aggressive state-level AI safety laws, such as New York's Alex Bores. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Because of its massive war chest, the PAC has drawn significant pushback. Rivals like the tech-worker-backed Guardrails Alliance and Anthropic-funded Public First Action have launched their own campaigns to counter LTF's deregulatory influence. [1, 2, 3]

For more context on how Leading the Future plans to influence American technology policy and secure U.S. innovation, watch this overview:

WIKI 6 26 Leading the Future - Wikipedia WOW NO TALK

Leading the Future is an American super PAC network focused on lobbying for policies friendly to the artificial intelligence industry. It was launched in 2025 and has received over $140 million from industry stakeholders including Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale.[1][2][3][4][5] The launch was preceded by talks between Collin McCune, head of government affairs at Andreessen Horowitz, and Chris Lehane, chief global affairs officer at OpenAI.[1] Lehane had also advised Brockman on his political spending, which Brockman described as being in service of OpenAI’s mission.[6][7] Among the members of the network are the American Mission PAC, which supported Chris Gober,

GOP ATTY 52% 3X $

Chris Gober (R)$1,151,762[ae]$1,047,102$104,660

and the Think Big PAC, which targeted Alex Bores.[8]

INSERT

Bores co-sponsored the Responsible AI Safety and Education Act (RAISE Act), an AI safety bill that passed the New York State Senate and Assembly in June 2025,[21] ^[22] with Politico saying that it was "widely regarded as the furthest-reaching in the country."[6] The bill was significantly weakened by Governor Kathy Hochul before she signed it into law in December 2025.[23] Time cited his role in co-sponsoring the RAISE Act when naming him to its 2025 Time 100 AI list.[24]

In May 2026, shortly after the Trump administration announced its Anti-Weaponization Fund intended to compensate individuals who claim that the DOJ had been weaponized against them, Bores began working on a bill titled the "Anti-Insurrectionist Act". In a draft memo to the State Assembly, the bill was described as ensuring that “no resident of this State is enriched by what is, in substance, a publicly-funded political payout negotiated between the President and his own Administration.”[25]

Bores co-sponsored a bill in the New York state legislature which would impose a one-year moratorium on new data centers in the state,[26] which passed the legislature on June 4 but has not been signed by Governor Kathy Hochul.[27] The legislature also passed a biosecurity bill co-sponsored by Bores that would require gene synthesis screening.[26]

ENDIT

Leading the Future is affiliated with the nonprofit Build American AI, which Axios describes as a dark money advocacy "offshoot" operating alongside the super PAC.[9] Build American AI is led by Nathan Leamer.[10] NBC News states that Leading The Future's efforts are modeled after the pro-cryptocurrency group Fairshake, which Chris Lehane had previously helped launch.[4][11] Leading the Future is led by Zac Moffatt and Josh Vlasto, the latter of whom previously served as an advisor to Fairshake.[4] In response to the creation of Leading the Future, former members of Congress Brad Carson and Chris Stewart co-founded the super PAC network Public First, aiming to counter the group’s influence.[12]

In April 2026, an investigation by Model Republic linked Leading the Future to The Wire By Acutus, an automated news website that allegedly used AI agents posing as human journalists to solicit interviews. The site's content was found to closely mirror the PAC's deregulatory policy goals while targeting researchers and advocates skeptical of rapid AI development.[13]

In May 2026, Wired revealed that Build American AI used a "dark money" campaign to pay TikTok and Instagram influencers $5,000 per video to promote scripted narratives framing Chinese AI as a "national security threat." According to internal documents and staff at the marketing agency managing the project, the campaign's explicit goal was to "subtly shift public debate" toward the deregulation of AI industries while intentionally avoiding technical discussions regarding AI quality or safety.[14]

During the 2026 primary season, Leading the Future endorsed several candidates in both Democratic and Republican races, several of whom won.[15][16][17]

new 9 26

In May 2026, Wired revealed that Build American AI used a "dark money" campaign to pay TikTok and Instagram influencers $5,000 per video to promote scripted narratives framing Chinese AI as a "national security threat." According to internal documents and staff at the marketing agency managing the project, the campaign's explicit goal was to "subtly shift public debate" toward the deregulation of AI industries while intentionally avoiding technical discussions regarding AI quality or safety.[14]^

That same month, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that super PACs associated with Leading the Future evaded federal transparency requirements by funneling payments through shell companies.[15]^

During the 2026 primary season, Leading the Future endorsed several candidates in both Democratic and Republican races, several of whom won.[16][17][18]^ Contributions to Leading the Future in 2026 include $50,000,000 from Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen and $25,000,000 from Greg & Anna Brockman.[19]^ It spent $8 million against Alex Bores and $700,000 in support of Dan Koh.[20]^

See also

F

ormationAugust 15, 2025; 9 months ago
TypeSuper PAC
Registration no.C00916114
HeadquartersHenderson, Nevada
Region servedUnited States
Key people
  • Zac Moffatt
  • Josh Vlasto
Websitewww.leadingthefuture.com

References

  1. "Exclusive | Silicon Valley Launches Pro-AI PACs to Defend Industry in Midterm Elections". Wall Street Journal.
  2. "Super PAC aims to drown out AI critics in midterms, with $100M and counting". The Washington Post. 26 August 2025.
  3. "Silicon Valley Pledges $200 Million to New Pro-A.I. Super PACs". The New York Times.
  4. "'Slap in the face': White House irked by a new $100M pro-AI super PAC". NBC News. 2025-10-24. Retrieved 2026-04-28.
  5. "Andreessen, Horowitz Boost AI Super PAC to Over $50 Million". 2026-04-15. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
  6. Zeff, Maxwell. "Can OpenAI's 'Master of Disaster' Fix AI's Reputation Crisis?". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
  7. Zeff, Maxwell. "OpenAI's President Gave Millions to Trump. He Says It's for Humanity". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
  8. Gold, Hadas (2025-12-10). "Pro-AI super PAC launches first candidate ads". CNN. Retrieved 2025-12-18.
  9. Isenstadt, Alex (2025-10-29). "AI industry-backed group to spend millions pushing regulation agenda". Axios. Retrieved 2025-11-23.
  10. "Leamer to lead group fighting state AI rules". Punchbowl News. 2025-11-13. Retrieved 2026-06-12.
  11. Duhigg, Charles (2024
  13. new 9 26

In May 2026, Wired revealed that Build American AI used a "dark money" campaign to pay TikTok and Instagram influencers $5,000 per video to promote scripted narratives framing Chinese AI as a "national security threat." According to internal documents and staff at the marketing agency managing the project, the campaign's explicit goal was to "subtly shift public debate" toward the deregulation of AI industries while intentionally avoiding technical discussions regarding AI quality or safety.[14]^

That same month, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that super PACs associated with Leading the Future evaded federal transparency requirements by funneling payments through shell companies.[15]^

During the 2026 primary season, Leading the Future endorsed several candidates in both Democratic and Republican races, several of whom won.[16][17][18]^ Contributions to Leading the Future in 2026 include $50,000,000 from Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen and $25,000,000 from Greg & Anna Brockman.[19]^ It spent $8 million against Alex Bores and $700,000 in support of Dan Koh.[20]^

  1. -10-07). "Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
  2. Nelson, Laura J. (2025-11-28). "Tech Titans Amass Multimillion-Dollar War Chests to Fight AI Regulation". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2025-12-21.
  3. James, Luke (2026-04-28). "News site linked to OpenAI super PAC sent bots posing as journalists to interview real people — site has published nearly 100 articles with real quotes gathered by fake writers". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2026-04-28.
  4. Lorenz, Taylor. "A Dark-Money Campaign Is Paying Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as a Threat". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  5. Nichols, Hans (Mar 4, 2026). "OpenAI has good opening night in 2026 primary season". axios.com. Axios. Archived from the original on March 5, 2026. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  6. Gold, Ashley (May 8, 2026). "Scoop: Pro-AI super PAC endorses three Dems". axios.com. Axios. Archived from the original on May 9, 2026. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  7. Nichols, Hans (May 22, 2026). "OpenAI-linked PAC doubles down in Kentucky". axios.com. Axios. Archived from the original on May 23, 2026. Retrieved May 26, 2026.

External links

7 26

Crypto super PAC Fairshake reports $141 million war chest

CNBC

https://www.cnbc.com › 2025/07/15 › crypto-super-pac...

Jul 15, 2025 — Coinbase contributed $25 million to Fairshake in the first half of 2025, part of $52 million raised so far this year.

Missing: STAFF ‎GENIUS ‎SCHUMER

Deep-pocketed crypto super PAC eyes New York House ...

City & State New York

https://www.cityandstateny.com › politics › 2026/03

Mar 18, 2026 — Fairshake has nearly $200 million on hand, and that's just one way the cryptocurrency industry could play in Empire State elections.

Missing: GENIUS ‎LOBBY ‎SCHUMER

Crypto cash is flooding the 2024 election. Here's who's ...

The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com › business › interactive

Oct 18, 2024 — A new political network funded by the cryptocurrency industry has spent more than $134 million trying to elect dozens of allies to Congress.Read more

Missing: STAFF ‎GENIUS ‎LOBBY ‎SCHUMER

Big crypto spent big money to reshape the political landscape

LinkedIn · Josh Vlasto

10+ reactions · 1 year ago

There is bipartisan agreement that something must be done to plug regulatory gaps + prevent confusion in a market that already exists.

Missing: STAFF ‎GENIUS ‎ACT ‎LOBBY ‎SCHUMER

The Staying Power of Crypto's Political Machine

The American Prospect

https://prospect.org › Politics

Apr 3, 2024 — The final word in Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal fraud case came down last week, with the disgraced crypto king receiving a 25-year prison ...Read more

Missing: GENIUS ‎| Show results with: GENIUS

Common Dreams

https://www.commondreams.org › news › cheri-bustos-next-american-era

Then-Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) spoke with Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md ...

Feb 9, 2026Centrist Democrats led by Cheri Bustos, a corporate lobbyist who previously headed her party's campaign arm in the US House, are launching a policy and advocacy organization aimed at pressuring Democrats to embrace the kind of "pro-growth" deregulatory agenda associated with the so-called "abundance" movement. The new organization, named Next American Era, was formed "with an eye ...

thelefthook.substack.com

https://thelefthook.substack.com › p › beware-the-corporate-democrats-trying

Beware the Corporate Democrats Trying to Hijack the Party!

5 days agoThe group, Next America Era, describes itself as a "hub for center-left policy and advocacy" and hired Former Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos as its president. Bustos is a lobbyist and the ex-chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Revolving Door Project

https://therevolvingdoorproject.org › new-abundance-group-ai-lobbysits

The AI Lobbyist Starting An Abundance Nonprofit

Feb 9, 2026The organization, Next American Era, a 501 (c) (4) nonprofit will reportedly be a "hub for center-left policy and advocacy." The organization is going to be led by former DCCC chair Cheri Bustos, who is currently a partner at one of the most Trump-connected lobbying firms in the beltway, Mercury Public Affairs.

Axios

https://www.axios.com › 2026 › 02 › 08 › centrist-democrats-new-group-abundance

Centrist Democrats strike back with new group - Axios

Feb 8, 2026Former Rep. Cheri Bustos. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images Ezra Klein's Abundance movement is getting some backup: A new political group is urging Democrats to embrace "pro-growth," deregulatory policies with an eye toward 2028, according to plans first shared with Axios.

Mercury

https://www.mercuryllc.com › team › hon-cheri-bustos

Hon. Cheri Bustos | Mercury Public Affairs

Former Congresswoman Cheri Bustos is a Partner at Mercury, working across our Washington D.C. office while also leading our firm's operations in Illinois. As a former senior member of House leadership with a long career in both the public and private sectors, Bustos brings 20+ years of experience in politics, journalism, healthcare and communications.

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Cheri_Bustos

Cheri Bustos - Wikipedia

Cheryl Lea Bustos (/ ˈbuːstoʊs / BOOST-ohss; née Callahan; born October 17, 1961) is an American lobbyist. [1] Formerly a journalist, healthcare executive, and politician, she served as the U.S. representative from Illinois's 17th congressional district from 2013 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman elected to Congress from her district in the northwestern ...

Illinois Public Media

https://will.illinois.edu › 21stshow › story › former-democratic-congresswoman-sounds-off-on-dems-mistakes-political-messaging-and-the-working-class

Former Democratic congresswoman sounds off on Dems' mistakes, political ...

Nov 18, 2024Bustos decided not to run for re-election in 2022, and is now a partner at the public affairs and lobbying firm Mercury. She shares her thoughts on what Kamala Harris did right during her presidential campaign and how some things in regards to messaging and responding to attacks could have been carried out in a different way.

Harvard Political Review

https://harvardpolitics.com › cheri-bustos-interview

Leadership and Democracy: An Interview with Cheri Bustos

Here, Bustos shares her insights into pressing legislative issues, ethical governance, and the future of the Democratic party.

cheribustos.com

https://cheribustos.com › about

Meet Cheri - Cheri Bustos for Congress

For the People was widely credited with bringing clarity of purpose and message discipline to the Democratic Caucus at a critical time. It helped Democrats relentlessly focus on the issues that mattered most to the American people, leading up to the 2018 election and retaking the House majority.

The Congressional Award

https://www.congressionalaward.org › leadership › cheri-bustos-2

Cheri Bustos - The Congressional Award

The wildly popular agenda was a central part of House Democrats winning the majority in 2018. After playing a leading role in reclaiming the Speaker's gavel for Democrats, Cheri was elected Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee by her colleagues.

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DUCK 2 26

notus.org
https://www.notus.org › money › ai-super-pac-fundraising-midterms-democrats-republicans
AI Industry Super PAC Enters Midterm Elections With a $70 Million War ...
Jan 30, 2026Leading the Future, an artificial intelligence industry-backed super PAC, along with affiliated super PACs and nonprofit advocacy groups, raised $125 million in the second half of 2025 and entered this year with $70 million in cash on hand, according to the committee. It's a massive political war chest for the AI industry entering the 2026 midterm election, when issues such as data centers ...
NBC News
https://www.nbcnews.com › politics › 2026-election › ai-crypto-trump-super-pacs-stash-millions-spend-midterms-rcna256622
AI, crypto and Trump super PACs stash millions to spend on the midterms
Feb 1, 2026MAGA Inc. ended 2025 with more than $300 million on hand, as groups tied to the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence industries aim to flex their political muscle.
New York Magazine
https://nymag.com › intelligencer › article › ai-money-midterms-pac-anthropic-openai-andreesen.html
AI Money Is Coming to a Midterm Near You - New York Magazine
1 day agoIndustry giants including Marc Andreessen and Anthropic are already spending millions to prop up pro-AI politicians.
CNBC
https://www.cnbc.com › 2026 › 01 › 28 › ai-laws-tech-lobyying-super-pac-midterm-elections.html
AI super PAC putting lobbying war chest to work in midterm elections - CNBC
Jan 28, 2026AI super PACs will be a major force in midterm elections as national and state debates over artificial intelligence regulation, and lobbying dollars, rise.
Common Dreams
https://www.commondreams.org › news › ai-super-pac-midterms
'What Oligarchy Looks Like': AI Giants Pledge to Pump $100 Million Into ...
6 days agoSilicon Valley elites plan to spend big in 2026 to influence Congress for AI-friendly legislation. Leading the Future PAC pledges $100 million.
letsdatascience.com
https://www.letsdatascience.com › news › ai-donors-fuel-super-pacs-ahead-of-midterms-0b1c5373
AI Donors Fuel Super-PACs Ahead Of Midterms | Let's Data Science
1 day agoBloomberg reports that prominent AI investors and executives, including Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, are backing Leading the Future, a super-PAC that aims to spend $125 million in the 2026 midterms. Anthropic pledged $20 million to the PAC Public First. Leading the Future has already spent on primaries, including $1.1 million against Alex Bores and ...
creati.ai
https://creati.ai › ai-news › 2026-02-14 › ai-companies-100-million-us-elections-2026-regulation-concerns
AI Companies Pour $100 Million Into 2026 U.S. Elections as Senators ...
4 days agoLeading AI companies plan to spend hundreds of millions on the 2026 midterm elections, with OpenAI-backed super PAC committing $100 million while Anthropic invests $20 million in regulation advocacy. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren warn of industry influence on AI policy.
:{[:
businessdailynews.com
https://www.businessdailynews.com › hundreds-of-millions-into-super-pacs-money-from-ai-firms-could-shape-2026-races-and-the-rules-for-the-technology-watchdogs-call-for-stronger-disclosure
'Hundreds of millions into super PACs'—money from AI firms could shape ...
4 days ago"The AI industry is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into super PACs ahead of the 2026 midterm elections." The funding push suggests a coordinated effort to influence debates on safety standards, copyright, national security, and data rules.
[
Sludge
https://readsludge.com › 2026 › 02 › 02 › crypto-ai-and-aipac-set-up-to-smash-super-pac-spending-records
Crypto, AI, and AIPAC Set up to Smash Super PAC Spending Records
Feb 2, 2026Following in their tracks is the new AI industry super PAC Leading the Future, which had $50 million cash on hand and touts far more in pledges. Excluding money spent by party leadership-tied groups, the current high-water mark for super PAC spending on midterms was set in the 2022 cycle by Club for Growth Action, which spent a total of $69 ...
[
The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com › technology › 2025 › 08 › 26 › silicon-valley-ai-super-pac
Pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future has $100M and targets midterms ...
Aug 26, 2025Super PAC aims to drown out AI critics in midterms, with $100M and counting Leading the Future is pushing to make Congress more AI friendly.
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transformer

The AI industry has already shown an appetite for dirty lobbying tactics, but things look set to get even worse.

On Monday, Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI’s Greg Brockman, Perplexity, and investors Ron Conway and Joe Lonsdale launched Leading the Future, a new network of super PACs and 501c(4)s to “organize political support and elect pro-innovation candidates at scale.”

Leading the Future is launching with more than $100m in funding, enough to make it one of the biggest spenders in congressional elections. The aim is clear: throw obscene amounts of money at politicians to discourage AI regulation.

The network will “support candidates aligned with the pro-AI agenda … and oppose those that do not,” the announcement reads, with plans to operate in both primary contests and general elections. Statements accompanying the launch talk of needing to kill policies that “make it impossible to build” or “enable China to gain global AI superiority” — claims that will doubtless be weaponized against any and all AI regulation.

Leading the Future is, according to the Wall Street Journal, modeled on Fairshake — a super-PAC network that pushed a pro-crypto agenda in the 2024 elections. Josh Vlasto, one of the founders of Leading the Future, was Fairshake’s spokesman and media strategist.

Fairshake, which alongside affiliated super PACs spent about $135m last year, has a simple strategy. “If you are pro-crypto, we will help you, and if you are anti we will tear you apart,” a person familiar with its approach told the New Yorker.

In last year’s elections, Fairshake pumped millions of dollars into campaigns opposing politicians that the group deemed unfriendly. Many ads avoided mentioning crypto, in one instance simply calling a candidate a “liar” and a “bully” and falsely suggesting they had taken money from the pharma and oil industries. An employee at Coinbase, a major donor to Fairshake, told the New Yorker that “it wasn’t really about explaining how crypto works, or anything like that. It’s about hitting politicians where they are most sensitive—reelection.”

The figure behind much of Coinbase’s political work at the time was Chris Lehane, now head of global affairs at OpenAI. Lehane was “involved in initial conversations earlier in the year about the need to help shape [AI] industry-friendly policies,” the WSJ reported.

Lehane previously ran Airbnb’s policy team, where he adopted a similar approach to pressure politicians into doing his bidding. Someone who worked with him at the time put it simply: “The goal was intimidation, to let everyone know that if they fuck with us they’ll regret it.”

Fairshake has shown that such spending gets results: it won almost all the races it spent on last year, and likely convinced many other politicians to go easy on crypto lest they draw Fairshake’s wrath. In turn, America now has an exceedingly pro-crypto Congress, which has already started passing bills to help the industry.

Leading the Future’s partners already have a grim track record. As Transformer reported last year, Andreessen Horowitz masterminded a campaign to kill SB 1047 last year that was full of misleading and false claims. Democratic power-broker Conway, who owns stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic, was also involved. And Zac Moffatt, who runs Leading the Future alongside Vlasto, has previously worked on misleading ad campaigns for Meta in its battle with TikTok.

The new organization’s launch comes as AI companies gear up for another series of state-level political fights, most notably in California and New York (both of which LTF has said it’ll begin operating in this year). Alongside funding LTF, Andreessen Horowitz is backing the American Innovators Network, a group which reportedly plans to invest “north of six figures” to oppose AI regulation in New York.

OpenAI, meanwhile, is hiring lobbyists in California in an effort to stifle new regulation there, and there are already signs of the Fairshake playbook, insinuating without evidence that one AI safety group was secretly funnelling money through another.

In August of last year Rick Claypool of Public Citizen, a non-profit which advocates for campaign finance reform, published a report analyzing the crypto industry’s attempt to buy political favor.

“Crypto did not invent the corporate political influence strategy of rewarding candidates who agree to do an industry’s bidding while threatening those who resist corporate power,” Claypool wrote. “But no industry has ever before so wholeheartedly embraced raising as much directly from corporations and openly using that political war chest as a looming threat (or reward) to discipline lawmakers toward adopting an industry’s preferred policies.” Claypool later told the New York Times that “other sectors are going to try to duplicate this strategy.”

AI leaders seem to have taken that as a challenge.

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ggl 7 25

[### Crypto industry amasses colossal war chest for elections

Politico

https://www.politico.com › news › 2025/07/15 › crypto...](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/15/crypto-super-pacs-war-chest-key-house-votes-00452356)

1 day ago — Since the 2024 campaign ended, crypto firms have doubled down: The PAC network has raised $109 million since Election Day. The latest ...

A super PAC group funded by cryptocurrency companies will enter the upcoming midterm elections with more than $140 million in the bank, according to new fundraising data shared first with POLITICO — a mammoth sum that now looms large over an effort to pass industry-friendly legislation in the House this week.

The group, known as Fairshake, raised $52 million in the first half of 2025, piling onto an already huge sum of crypto campaign cash that could be wielded against lawmakers who oppose the industry’s Capitol Hill agenda — and boost the political fortunes of those who support it.

The PAC network’s fundraising highlights how top crypto firms are plowing ahead with a lobbying strategy that overtly uses political spending to get their way from Congress. The group includes three affiliated super PACs — Fairshake, Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs — that collectively spent $135 million supporting industry allies and taking down crypto critics in Congressional races across the country last year.

Spending by the group in the 2024 campaigns helped take down key roadblocks to the industry’s policy agenda, including former Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown, who lost his Ohio re-election campaign to Republican Bernie Moreno — a crypto enthusiast who benefited from more than $40 million of crypto PAC spending. The PACs also boosted industry supporters in dozens of other House and Senate races across the country, including the California Democratic Senate primary and hotly-contested House races in Alabama, Arizona and Virginia.

Since the 2024 campaign ended, crypto firms have doubled down: The PAC network has raised $109 million since Election Day. The latest fundraising haul comes as the House is preparing to take up landmark crypto legislation this week that would help legitimize digital assets as mainstream financial products and craft bespoke new rules governing the sector.

“Fairshake is stronger than ever as we remain focused on our mission of building lasting support for crypto and blockchain innovation,” said Josh Vlasto, spokesperson for the PAC group. “We are building an aggressive, targeted strategy for next year to ensure that pro-crypto voices are heard in key races across the country.”

The PAC is primarily funded by three companies: the venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, which invests heavily in digital asset startups, and the crypto firms Coinbase and Ripple.

Fairshake’s latest fundraising haul includes $25 million donated by Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, along with previously announced contributions from Ripple Labs, Uniswap Labs, and the crypto entrepreneur Robert Leshner.

Coinbase’s chief policy officer, Faryar Shirzad, said in a statement that “crypto is already woven into America’s financial fabric,” and the company is “committed to fighting for the consumer protections and financial empowerment” that digital asset owners “deserve.”

The top Washington priority for the group’s top donors is a GOP-led crypto market structure bill expected to go to the House floor on Wednesday that seeks to create a first-ever crypto regulatory regime by divvying up oversight of digital assets between securities and commodities regulators.

Republicans leading the push for that bill are seeking to win over as many Democrats as they can ahead of the floor vote in order to show that the measure has political viability in the Senate, where bipartisan support is needed to clear a 60-vote threshold. A similar GOP-led proposal passed the House with 71 Democratic votes last year — as Fairshake was beginning to ramp up for the 2024 campaign — but concerns over the Trump family’s business entanglements in crypto may make matching that figure difficult this week.

Some Democrats are considering voting against the sweeping market structure measure but supporting a second, narrower crypto bill affecting so-called stablecoins that the House is expected to send to President Donald Trump’s desk on Thursday.

The crypto super PACs, though, have signaled that the vote breakdown on the broader bill, led by House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.), will be their primary consideration as they weigh how to deploy their 2026 haul. The group spent more than $30 million benefiting House Democrats during the last campaign.

A non-profit dark money group that is affiliated with the Fairshake PACs called the Cedar Innovation Foundation said in a statement Monday that Hill’s so-called CLARITY Act is “the most important vote members will take this Congress.”

// Trump Border Czar Tom Homan: ‘There Will Be No Amnesty’ | The Conversation

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YIKES 2024

COMMON DR

Crypto Industry's $40 Million Defeat of Pro-Worker Sherrod Brown Called 'Obscene'

The Ohio Democrat lost his seat because "the billionaire-backed crypto industry donated $40 million to his right-wing opponent," lamented one labor journalist.

Jake Johnson

Nov 07, 2024

The Republican Party's capture of the U.S. Senate this week was made possible in part by massive spending from the nascent but increasingly influential cryptocurrency industry, which pumped more than $40 million into a successful effort to topple pro-worker progressive Sen. Sherrod Brown in favor of luxury car dealer Bernie Moreno.

Crypto industry spending helped make Ohio's closely watched Senate race the most expensive in the state's history, with Moreno's campaign boosted by around $40.1 million from the super PAC Defend American Jobs—part of what OpenSecrets described as the "triad" of allied pro-crypto groups pouring cash into the 2024 election.

The Washington Postnoted that Moreno "founded a blockchain firm called Ownum in 2018" and "has long immersed himself in blockchain technology, a registry of ownership that essentially underpins all cryptocurrency."

A spokesman for Fairshake, another member of the crypto PAC triad, took credit for Moreno's victory in a statement after the election was called in the Republican's favor and condemned Brown's support for regulating the industry. Fairshake received tens of millions of dollars in donations from the cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase—some of which may have been illegal spending, according to the watchdog group Public Citizen, given that the company is a federal contractor.

"Sherrod Brown was a top opponent of cryptocurrency and thanks to our efforts, he will be leaving the Senate," said Fairshake's Josh Vlasto. "Senator-elect Moreno's come-from-behind win shows that Ohio voters want a leader who prioritizes innovation."

Crypto executive Tyler Winklevoss boasted in a social media post, "The crypto army is striking!"

"Sherrod Brown—crypto public enemy, Elizabeth Warren co-conspirator, and Gary Gensler crony—was just ousted by Bernie Moreno for Ohio Senate," wrote Winklevoss, the co-founder of Gemini.

Labor reporter Steven Greenhouse wrote Wednesday that it is "obscene" that Brown lost his seat because "the billionaire-backed crypto industry donated $40 million to his right-wing opponent."

"Sherrod Brown is one of the most pro-worker, pro-middle-class members of the U.S. Senate," Greenhouse added. "He truly fights for workers."

"The strategy was a brazen attempt to buy influence while keeping the public unaware of what they were supporting."

While the Ohio Senate contest was "the biggest single target of crypto money this cycle," as CNBCput it, the industry spread its money widely, backing both Republicans and Democrats in races across the country—underscoring its attempt to gain influence over future regulatory fights in Congress.

Overall, crypto groups spent more than $130 million in support of candidates for federal office this cycle. A tracker created by the Stand With Crypto Alliance estimates that 263 "pro-crypto candidates" were elected to the House and 18 to the Senate in Tuesday's contest.

Former President Donald Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris was also seen as a win for the industry, with Bitcoin's price spiking to a new all-time high on Wednesday. During his campaign, Trump vowed to make the U.S. "the crypto capital of the planet."

"Tonight the crypto voter has spoken decisively—across party lines and in key races across the country," gushed Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase. "Americans disproportionately care about crypto and want clear rules of the road for digital assets. We look forward to working with the new Congress to deliver it."

But one critic, Better Markets president Dennis Kelleher, cast doubt on the industry's self-serving narrative that the 2024 results amounted to a ringing endorsement of cryptocurrency.

In an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, Kelleher pointed out that pro-crypto PACs adopted "generic anodyne names" and bankrolledads that didn't even mention cryptocurrency.

"It's as if Ford ran an ad campaign and never mentioned its cars," Kelleher wrote. "The strategy was a brazen attempt to buy influence while keeping the public unaware of what they were supporting. This way, the industry can claim the now-elected officials they backed have a mandate from the public to support crypto interests—even though they don't."

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RS

the end of 2023 was not a great time for the crypto industry. In November, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, learned that no amount of Michael Lewis gymnastics could save him from being convicted on seven charges of fraud and conspiracy. He was eventually sentenced to 25 years in prison after disappearing $11 billion of other people’s money. The following month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent letters to three crypto industry giants, the Blockchain Association, Coin Center, and Coinbase, criticizing them for undermining efforts to rein in crypto’s use in terrorist financing.

Around the same time, crypto groups began making noises about spending money in 2024 to defeat Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the current chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Brown is a profound skeptic of the industry and signed off on Warren holding hearings on crypto’s possible links to terrorism. Asked about the threats, Brown, a mop-topped Democrat with a raspy voice and wry sense of humor, said he was unconcerned.

“Bring ’em on,” he told reporters, according to Politico. “They’ve had a bad six months. They clearly have betrayed the public interest. If they think that’s the way to attack someone politically? Pretty amazing.”

Brown had no idea.

Rolling Stone has learned that crypto interests are set to spend $32 million on TV ads promoting Bernie Moreno, Brown’s Republican opponent, by the end of September, according to Democratic media buyers. The spending began on August 22 — meaning the crypto interests are spending more than $800,000 per day to flip the Ohio Senate seat, and potentially control of the Senate.

“Outside groups are spending record amounts to try to defeat Sherrod because they know he will always fight for Ohio, not special interests,” said Reeves Oyster, a Brown campaign spokesperson.

So far, the ads have been primarily fluffy positive spots boosting Moreno; some of the spots fearmonger about immigrants and China.

Tracing the roots of Defend American Jobs can be as convoluted as tracing crypto currency itself. The group is effectively a subsidiary of Fairshake — the second-largest fundraiser among Super PACs this season according to OpenSecrets, with over $200 million in its coffers. The bulk of Fairshake’s money has been donated by three crypto monoliths: Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, and Ripple.

Coinbase and its affiliates have donated $86 million. The founders of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz have together given $44 million. Ripple has contributed $25 million. (The Winklevoss Twins, who donated nearly $5 million to Fairshake, previously tried to donate $1 million in bitcoin to Donald Trump — well beyond what is legal.)

Most of the money raised by Defend American Jobs has come through Fairshake. Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and the founders of Andreessen Horowitz have donated separately, too.

Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong has led the latest charge to bring crypto into the political mainstream, hosting a Super Tuesday rally with Nas in Los Angeles where he proclaimed, “More Americans own crypto than own electric vehicles or are in a union — yet some people in D.C. are still underestimating how much and how many people care about crypto. In 2024, it will become clear that being anti-crypto is bad politics.”

Rep. Katie Porter found that out the hard way. During the California Democratic Senate primary, Fairshake spent over $10 million against her campaign, apparently because she had the temerity to question the energy uses of the industry. Porter didn’t make the runoff, losing to Adam Schiff, a longtime collaborator with crypto who received an ‘A’ rating from Stand With Crypto, a self-described grassroots advocacy hub nonprofit led by Coinbase and fronted by Armstrong. Porter got an ‘F.’

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“I think in 2024, some people need to win an election or lose an election because of their crypto stance,” said Armstrong.

Brown’s skepticism about crypto has been long-standing and largely correct. Shortly after the 2022 Super Bowl featured a raft of celebrity ads promoting the industry, Brown spoke before the Senate Banking Committee.

“If you watched the Super Bowl on Sunday, you saw ad after ad for a product that most Americans have heard of, but almost nobody knows what it really Is,” Brown said. “Big crypto companies are looking to make big profits. They are desperate to reach as many Americans as they can. They brought in celebrities and gimmicks to make crypto sound exciting and daring and profitable, but the ads left a few things out. They didn’t mention the fraud, the scams, and the outright theft. The ads didn’t point out that you can lose big and crypto’s huge price swings. They didn’t tell you about the high fees pocketed by the crypto companies. They sure didn’t explain that the crypto markets lack basic investor protections and oversight. Watching those ads remind a lot of us of some asset bubbles we’ve seen before… We need to look beyond the unproven promises to protect Americans and our entire financial system.”

By the next Super Bowl, Bankman-Fried had been indicted and there were exactly zero crypto ads. Brown wasn’t done ringing the warning bell. On October 23, Brown sent the following tweet regarding alleged ties between crypto and foreign terrorists, including Hamas: “@SenateBanking is examining the financing behind terrorism & working to cut it off at the source. We’re looking at all options including sanctioning state sponsors of terrorism & their proxies & cracking down on cryptocurrency. We must do whatever we can to deny Hamas funding.”

Stand With Crypto gave the statement a ‘Very Anti-Crypto’ rating with a large thumbs down emoji on their website.

So maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Fairshake’s affiliate has gone all in against Brown, especially since his opponent Moreno is a crypto evangelist who founded a property title blockchain startup in 2016. Still, the sheer amount of their expenditure is breath-taking.

From Sept. 4-9, Defend American Jobs spent $6.7 million on television in support of Moreno, more than the Brown campaign and other pro-Brown groups spent combined, and more than the Moreno campaign and other affiliated groups as well.

Not all Fairshake donors think taking out Brown is a great idea.

According to Politico, Crypto advocate and billionaire investor Ron Conway, a Democrat, exploded when he found out Big Crypto was going after Brown, especially since he was meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer about the possibility of crypto-friendly legislation being taken up in the lame duck session after the election. At that point, Conway was into Fairshake’s network for $500,000.

“How short sighted and stupid can you possibly be,” wrote Conway in a group email that included Armstrong, Andreessen Horowitz founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and Ripple head Brad Garlinghouse.

Conway’s complaint did not dissuade them. So far, most of the ads have been Moreno bio commercials with shots of Ohio farmhouses and back roads. But things are getting darker.

One of the ads says Moreno will stop “illegal immigrants from taking Ohio’s tax dollars.” A new ad features a shadowy outline of Brown and scare words about China, and reiterates that Moreno will “stop illegal immigrants from taking our hard earned tax dollars.”

IFrame Content

Where they go in the last 50 days — immigrants eating cats propaganda? — is unknown.

A spokesperson for Fairshake declined to comment.

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If crypto succeeds in unseating Brown, you may wonder who would replace him as chair of the Senate Banking Committee. That would be Republican Tim Scott.

Stand With Crypto gives him an ‘A.’

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