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

Major super PACs associated with AI labs and investors have poured close to one million dollars 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.

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.

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.

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.