Silicon Valley’s $125 Million Bet to Shape the Next Congress

The tracker, dubbed AI Money Watch, utilizes Federal Election Commission filings to map the financial footprint of Leading the Future (LTF). The group, founded last August, is actively working to oust regulatory hawks while bankrolling allies. While LTF officially claims to support privacy and child safety standards, its affiliated nonprofit, Build American AI, has aggressively lobbied for federal preemption of state-level oversight.

Backers of the fund include high-profile tech figures such as OpenAI’s Greg Brockman, Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale and Alex Karp, and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. Despite these industry roots, the PAC’s top three beneficiaries are Democrats. The group has spent nearly $1 million to support Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and poured millions more into the campaigns of former Rep. Melissa Bean and former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

Conversely, the PAC has turned its firepower on New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores, spending $5.7 million on negative advertising against him. Bores, a former Palantir employee, has become a primary target due to his work on stringent state-level AI regulations. Colin McGlynn, AI policy adviser at Demand Progress, warns that candidates accepting this money while claiming to support reform face a fundamental credibility gap. As polling shows deep public disapproval of AI and its infrastructure, these PACs have increasingly relied on pretextual campaign messaging to obscure their legislative objectives.