🤯 NY Politics Shook: Race, Money, & AI 🗳️

THE BORES CAMPAIGN: A POLITICALPROXY WAR
The expensive, $27 million political proxy war between Anthropic and OpenAI came to a draw last night when Alex Bores, a New York state Assemblyman whose popularity surged after being targeted by a pro-AI super PAC, narrowly lost the Democratic primary to represent New York’s 12th Congressional district. Prior to the race, Bores, a former tech industry employee, had coauthored and successfully passed the high-profile RAISE Act, which had implemented guardrails and safety requirements on frontier AI companies; a version of his bill was signed into state law last year. But the legislation drew the ire of Leading the Future, a $100 million super PAC backing a deregulatory agenda in this year’s midterms that was funded partially by OpenAI, Palantir, and Andreessen Horowitz executives.

THE RAISE ACT AND THE AI BACKLASH
The RAISE Act, championed by Alex Bores, represented a significant attempt to regulate frontier AI companies. The legislation introduced safety requirements and guardrails, ultimately becoming law after Bores’s successful co-authorship and advocacy. However, this action triggered a substantial backlash, particularly from a network of super PACs aligned with OpenAI and other industry players who favored a less restrictive approach to AI development.

SUPER PAC INVOLVEMENT AND FUNDING
A complex web of super PACs, backed by significant financial contributions, became deeply involved in Bores’s campaign. Leading the Future, funded partially by OpenAI, Palantir, and Andreessen Horowitz executives, spearheaded the effort to undermine Bores. Simultaneously, three other AI-centric super PACs – Jobs and Democracy PAC, Dream NYC, and You Can Fight Back – poured millions into supporting Bores’s candidacy, demonstrating the intensity of the battle for regulatory control within the AI sector.

FINANCIAL WARFARE AND CAMPAIGN SPENDING
The race witnessed an unusually large expenditure of funds, with both sides investing heavily in Bores’s campaign. The pro-Bores super PACS spent $19.26 million, while Leading the Future committed $8.15 million. Combined, the AI companies spent a staggering $27.41 million, highlighting the high stakes involved in this local election, which was viewed as a bellwether for broader AI regulation trends.

MICAH LASHER’S VICTORY AND POLITICAL REALITIES
Ultimately, Assemblyman Micah Lasher secured the victory with 39.1 percent of the vote, edging out Bores by 35 percent. Lasher’s success was largely attributed to his long-standing connection to the district, backed by the support of retiring Congressman Jerry Nadler and a super PAC run by Michael Bloomberg. The race underscored the importance of local political dynamics and established networks in shaping election outcomes.

NATIONAL NARRATIVES AND INDUSTRY DIVISIONS
The Bores campaign attracted national attention due to the alignment of several super PACs supporting him with industry entities critical of OpenAI and other pro-innovation, anti-regulatory players. Anthropic’s Public First super PAC provided a $20 million donation, while Dan Ziegler, an early Anthropic employee, funded Dream NYC. Chris Larsen, Ripple cofounder and crypto billionaire, contributed $3.5 million to You Can Fight Back, explicitly intending to push against OpenAI’s influence.

BORES’S REFLECTION AND THE “AI OLIGARCHS”
In a statement following his loss, Bores acknowledged that his campaign was not initially driven by a singular focus on AI regulation, but rather by a broader desire to challenge what he termed the “AI oligarchs.” He argued that his surprisingly close performance reflected a political reality where people were prepared to push back against perceived industry dominance.

THE BROADER CAMPAIGN LANDSCAPE AND NATIONAL SPENDING
Beyond the NY-12 primary, the AI industry’s super PACs had already begun spending millions in other races across the country. According to Transformer’s campaign finance tracker, both sides had dropped a combined $50.1 million across 19 states, with the NY-12 primary being the most expensive, followed by the recent Texas primaries, where they spent a total of $4.6 million across seven races.

KEY FACTORS BEYOND AI REGULATION
While AI played a significant role in the campaign, several other factors contributed to Bores’s defeat. Local Manhattan politics, the support of the city’s political establishment, and broader economic concerns like inflation, the war with Iran, and data centers all factored into voters’ decisions. The race demonstrated that even in a highly polarized environment, local issues and established political relationships could ultimately outweigh technological debates.