AI becomes contentious issue in midterms over donations
Five Congress members endorsed by a major AI PAC are under new pressure from a coalition of advocacy groups and nonprofits to denounce AI companies.
JaneWalter
The US Capitol during a rainstorm in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
Graeme Sloan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Funding from AI groups is becoming a flashpoint in the 2026 midterm elections, as a major political action committee that launched in 2025 with support from AI companies announced its latest fundraising haul.
Super PAC Leading the Future will announce Wednesday it has raised $15 million in the first quarter of 2026 across all of its entities, bringing the group's total haul for the 2026 election season to $140 million. The group's backers include venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, SV Angel founder Ron Conway and AI software company Perplexity.
The group has backed candidates of both parties in the midterms. It also recently endorsed five House Democrats: Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) and Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.).
But a coalition of groups led by The Tech Oversight Project, an advocacy group that seeks to break up big tech companies, is pressuring those same Democrats to denounce the group that's supporting them.
It sent a letter, exclusively obtained by CNBC, to the five lawmakers who got Leading the Future's backing asking them to "disavow" Leading the Future. The letters sent late Tuesday were signed by a coalition of groups focused on children, social media and progressive causes.
"LTF and super PACs like them have emerged as the well-funded mouthpiece of the Big Tech AI industry, which is trying to whitewash its role in rising energy prices, Trump's executive overreach, and deadly harms to children and teens," The Tech Oversight Project and other groups said in the letter.
It is not clear if those five members have received donations from Leading the Future, as the group's full first quarter filing has not been made public yet.
