{"id":33494,"date":"2026-10-30T10:47:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T10:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=33494"},"modified":"2026-10-30T10:47:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T10:47:54","slug":"how-aipac-and-ai-spent-their-money-this-midterm-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=33494","title":{"rendered":"How AIPAC and AI Spent Their Money This Midterm Election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n  <iframe src=\"https:\/\/embed.acast.com\/intercept-presents\/money-money-money-money?accentColor=111111&amp;bgColor=f5f6f7&amp;logo=false\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"acast-player__embed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(acast)[0] --><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span class=\"has-underline\">It\u2019s a superlative<\/span> achieved again and again: The current election cycle is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2026-election\/2026-midterms-become-expensive-election-cycle-ever-rcna605964\">most expensive<\/a> on record, according to AdImpact, likely to be surpassed only by the next one. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/10\/26\/politics\/elon-musk-campaign-spending\">North of $16 billion<\/a> have been raised ahead of Tuesday\u2019s looming elections, with ad spending in House and Senate races topping <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/10\/19\/nx-s1-6004922\/democrats-republicans-elon-musk-super-pacs-campaign-fundraising\">$4 billion<\/a>. Mega-donors this election season have overwhelmingly backed Republicans with contributions largely flowing from AI, crypto, and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/09\/kalshi-polymarket-betting-prediction-election\/\">online gambling<\/a> interests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Intercept tracked how super PAC spending is flowing into the midterms and how growing public skepticism of special-interest money in politics is affecting campaign strategies. Hundreds of candidates are <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/29\/aipac-israel-midterms-spending-elections-congress\/\">still taking donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee<\/a> and its super PAC, the United Democracy Project, despite public sentiment turning against the pro-Israel lobby.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe data overall reveals that [AIPAC is] still spending a ton of money on a lot of races, and more often than not, their candidates are still winning,\u201d Intercept managing editor Maia Hibbett told The Intercept Briefing. \u201cIt is still quite meaningful money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/29\/midterms-election-money-ai-super-pac\/\">Artificial intelligence super PACs<\/a> have also poured tens of millions of dollars into this election cycle, most of it on just a few races in the primaries. The two leading AI super PAC networks, affiliated with OpenAI or Anthropic, dropped a whopping $50.7 million on the primaries, but are noticeably spending much less in the lead-up to the general election, $8.5 million \u2014 likely responding to public backlash in the same way that AIPAC has.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/709772\/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx\">polls<\/a> are just so startling on the public\u2019s transformation on AI and data centers over the last year. \u2026 The entire life cycle of these AI super PACs, which started about a year ago, has followed that evolution of the public\u2019s opinion,\u201d said Intercept politics reporter Matt Sledge. \u201cOne of the things that\u2019s been really interesting in the general election races is \u2026 candidates [trying] to paint themselves as the more pro-AI safety, pro-AI regulation candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week on the podcast, host Jessica Washington speaks to Hibbett and Sledge about the spending trends in the most expensive election cycle to date and unpack the intended impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo matter which party gets control of either or both houses of Congress, there will be a lot of people elected next week who got there on the backs of Big Tech and special interests,\u201d said Hibbett.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey\u2019re backing a lot of people in safe seats who don\u2019t really have a tight election,\u201d Sledge added. \u201cThe goal may just be to buy themselves a few friends in Congress, because sometimes in Congress, it\u2019s just as good to have a few people who can stop regulation as it is to have people who can shape and actually pass laws.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more, listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-intercept-briefing\/id1195206601\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2js8lwDRiK1TB4rUgiYb24?si=e3ce772344ee4170\">Spotify<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLW0Gy9pTgVnvgbvfd63A9uVpks3-uwudj\">YouTube,<\/a> or wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-transcript\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Transcript<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jessica Washington:<\/strong> Welcome to The Intercept Briefing, I\u2019m Jessica Washington, politics reporter at The Intercept.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, voters will head to the polls to cast their ballots in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2026-election\/2026-midterms-become-expensive-election-cycle-ever-rcna605964\">most expensive<\/a> election cycle ever in terms of campaign ad spending, even outpacing past presidential elections. That\u2019s according to AdImpact.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/10\/26\/politics\/elon-musk-campaign-spending\">North of $16 billion<\/a> has been raised this cycle, with ad spending in House and Senate races <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/10\/19\/nx-s1-6004922\/democrats-republicans-elon-musk-super-pacs-campaign-fundraising\">topping $4 billion<\/a>. Billionaire Elon Musk has dumped hundreds of millions into races across the country, using his enormous personal wealth to sway the election in favor of Republicans. Musk, who has a home and multiple businesses in Texas, has taken a particular interest in the state\u2019s Senate race between Republican candidate Ken Paxton and Democratic candidate James Talarico.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the money from Musk and other donors has flowed not to candidates, but to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/10\/26\/politics\/elon-musk-campaign-spending\">powerful super PACs<\/a> representing a variety of different special interests.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That super PAC spending is the subject of my colleagues, Intercept politics reporter Matt Sledge and senior politics reporter Akela Lacy\u2019s new project, tracking how money is flowing into the midterms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maia Hibbett, managing editor for The Intercept, and Matt Sledge join me now to talk about the project and how big money is shaping the midterms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt, Maia, welcome back to The Intercept Briefing\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Maia Hibbett:<\/strong> Thanks for having us.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Matt Sledge:<\/strong> Thank you for having us, Jessie.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> Maia, I want to start with you. As a part of the super PAC project, The Intercept tracked how millions of dollars flow through the pro-Israel lobby in the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What did the reporting reveal about how the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and affiliated groups like the United Democracy Project mask their influence in U.S. elections in a political landscape where AIPAC\u2019s contributions and endorsements have become largely politically toxic?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MH:<\/strong> The reporting showed that AIPAC and its affiliated super PAC UDP are a little bit weakened, but they\u2019re still pretty dominant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The narrative out of this midterm cycle, especially during the primaries, was largely focused on a few high-profile races that an AIPAC-backed candidate lost \u2014 and that was a huge shock. These big upsets were AIPAC or UDP or a related group that, we can talk about a little bit later, had poured money into, and then the candidate didn\u2019t succeed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But if you look at it in the aggregate, what the data overall reveals is that they\u2019re still spending a ton of money on a lot of races, and more often than not, their candidates are still winning. It is still quite meaningful money. And even though AIPAC has been discussed as going underground, they are still directly invested in a lot of races.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> I want to get into AIPAC\u2019s shifting strategy and their latest announcement on that. But first, Matt, I wanted to talk about your reporting. AI super PACs have poured tens of millions of dollars into this election cycle. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What do we know about the people and companies behind these super PACs? This may seem obvious, but what are they hoping to gain with this level of spending? Are there specific examples of friendly legislation these varied interest groups are hoping their candidates will see through if they win?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> To answer your second question, I think it\u2019s really more about setting the tone for future regulation at the federal level. You have two big super PAC networks. One is affiliated with OpenAI, and they broadly favor a laxer regulatory scheme for AI. Then there\u2019s another network that\u2019s affiliated with Anthropic that paints itself as supporting a stricter regulatory scheme.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really more about setting the tone for future [AI] regulation at the federal level.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Skeptics will point out that these networks are both backed by big AI companies. So at the end of the day, they\u2019re probably going to favor regulation that is favorable to the AI companies. I get into this a little bit in my story, but, just in the last few months, there\u2019s also been this constellation of other smaller groups that are sometimes backed by individual employees at these firms or just by people concerned about AI that are pushing for stricter regulatory regimes and aren\u2019t as directly connected to one of the big companies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> Matt, I\u2019m curious about the impact on voters here. CNBC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/10\/08\/2026-midterm-election-megadonors.html\">analysis<\/a> from early October found that mega-donors this election season were overwhelmingly backing Republicans with contributions largely flowing from AI, crypto, and online gambling interests: \u201cFourteen of the 20 largest donors and donor groups this election cycle have exclusively or nearly exclusively backed GOP candidates or aligned groups.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt, are we seeing voters become more receptive to Republicans as a result of all this ad spending? Is it working on the voter base?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> It\u2019s always hard to tease out the impact of an individual super PAC or industry, because you have to keep in mind that a lot of the time, if you\u2019re a crypto super PAC, or an AI super PAC \u2014 or more recently, a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/09\/kalshi-polymarket-betting-prediction-election\/\">prediction market<\/a> super PAC \u2014 they are not running pro-crypto or pro-AI ads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They are running ads that <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/03\/15\/crypto-spending-illinois-house-primaries\/\">look very similar to everybody else\u2019s<\/a>. Often, they\u2019re doing negative campaigning that campaigns don\u2019t want to do themselves, and they have <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/05\/18\/super-pac-election-spending-midterms-aipac-ai-crypto\/\">such vague names<\/a> that they\u2019re not associated with crypto or AI. So I do think ads have an impact on the races, but overall what we\u2019re seeing in polls is that it\u2019s not a great environment for Republicans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So it may have served, just writ large, to potentially soften the blow to Republicans this time around. It does help them to have this many corporate allies, but it may still be overwhelmed by a blue tide.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> That makes a lot of sense in terms of just, this is a bad environment for Republicans. They have a president who is unpopular. We have an economy that is not amazing right now. It makes a lot of sense that despite all this ad spending, the baseline of the election is not in favor of Republicans.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maia, I wanted to get back to something that you had said a little bit earlier about AIPAC and their shifting strategy. AIPAC recently <a href=\"https:\/\/jewishinsider.com\/2026\/10\/aipac-end-candidate-endorsements-pac-contributions\/\">announced<\/a> that they would no longer officially endorse candidates or give money directly to campaigns. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Were we seeing an early signal of shifting strategies from AIPAC during the 2026 midterm elections? And what does this change actually mean for AIPAC\u2019s influence on our elections?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MH:<\/strong> I\u2019m so glad you asked, because we actually noted early in the 2026 cycle that AIPAC was starting to retreat and change its strategy. Our colleague Akela Lacy wrote a story in December 2025, and the headline was, \u201cAIPAC is Retreating From Endorsements and Election Spending. It Won\u2019t Give Up Its Influence.\u201d I encourage anyone to go back and read that story because it was really prescient about what we would see in the cycle to come, which is that <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/12\/30\/aipac-campaigns-elections-israel-congress\/\">AIPAC used to do all of its spending behind closed doors<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2022, it made a big splash when it started doing <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2022\/08\/02\/michigan-primary-andy-levin-results-aipac\/\">direct spending in that year\u2019s midterms<\/a>. The group had helped fund some <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2020\/02\/01\/iowa-bernie-sanders-democratic-majority-for-israel-mark-mellman\/\">anti-Bernie Sanders ads<\/a> during the 2020 presidential campaign, but it was 2022 when it went all in, rather than routing its donations through other groups or through dark-money pathways, it just <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2022\/05\/15\/democratic-primary-pro-israel-aipac-dmfi\/\">started giving contributions to candidates<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After it spent so much money in that midterm cycle and in <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/06\/26\/jamaal-bowman-primary-aipac-latimer\/\">last cycle<\/a>\u2018s <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/24\/aipac-spending-congress-elections-israel\/\">2024 races<\/a>, and as public sentiment started to turn against the pro-Israel lobby\u2019s interests and people became very critical of the U.S. support for genocide in Gaza, AIPAC started to essentially return to its roots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think this is really interesting because in the press it has been talked about as a very new strategy. But really, it\u2019s more that AIPAC is returning to the way it used to do business.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> Is that as effective as a strategy \u2014 the old model that they had? Should we expect that it\u2019ll have just as much influence on elections as they did previously?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MH:<\/strong> It\u2019s a good question. I don\u2019t know how effective it will be as a strategy. There\u2019s a lot more scrutiny on AIPAC now than there was a few years ago, and so it\u2019s much more difficult for them to hide what they\u2019re doing because there are journalists like us who are going to try to follow the money and say, maybe <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/29\/aipac-israel-midterms-spending-elections-congress\/\">you gave to something that\u2019s called Elect Chicago Women<\/a>, but it\u2019s actually from UDP, which is the super PAC for AIPAC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think in some cases, they can\u2019t get away from the public perception that now exists. But on the other hand, there are many voters who might not really pay attention to the name of the PAC that sponsored the ad that they saw, and then go look it up and see where the money came from. So it remains to be seen how effective it will be.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s much more difficult for them to hide what they\u2019re doing because there are journalists like us who are going to try to follow the money.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> Not everyone is reading The Intercept before voting, as they should, but it\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt, I wanted to get back to you because there\u2019s a lot happening with these big AI super PACs. You noticed in your reporting that, after spending a lot in the primaries in New York in particular, but in other places as well, the big AI super PACs have gone pretty much quiet in the general election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are AI super PACs responding to public backlash in the same way that AIPAC is? What have you observed in terms of why they\u2019ve gone a little bit quieter?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> In response to your question about backlash, I think the answer is yes.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just a dramatic decline in spending from the primaries to the generals \u2014 even though they still have money they can tap.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They\u2019re on this kind of accelerated timeline going through what AIPAC went through over the course of five years but essentially in five or six months. The <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/709772\/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx\">polls<\/a> are just so startling on the public\u2019s transformation on AI and data centers over the last year. It\u2019s just such a rapid change in public opinion, and the entire life cycle of these AI super PACs, which started about a year ago, has followed that evolution of the public\u2019s opinion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s just a dramatic decline in spending from the primaries to the generals \u2014 even though they still have money they can tap. Leading the Future, which is the OpenAI-aligned network, they started first, and then the Anthropic-aligned network, Public First, they started a few months later as a response to the Leading the Future network.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So it seems like, from what we\u2019ve been able to tell, Leading the Future scaled back on spending as the general election came about, and Public First responded in turn and also scaled back its operations. That doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not spending anything, and we have seen a slight uptick in the final few days of this election when ads are probably just less effective than they would have been a couple weeks ago.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIf Darline Graham narrowly gets away with winning her race in South Carolina of all places \u2026 then you can still say that Leading the Future and the AI industry played a pretty important role in the general race.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One really notable race is now South Carolina, where Leading the Future is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/26\/us\/politics\/darline-graham-data-centers-south-carolina.html\">helping prop up Sen. Darline Graham<\/a>, who hasn\u2019t been a great fundraiser on her own. So there\u2019s actually still a world where AI plays a decisive role in this election in terms of control of the Senate. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Darline Graham narrowly gets away with winning her race in South Carolina of all places, and that narrowly hands control of the Senate back to the Republicans, then you can still say that Leading the Future and the AI industry played a pretty important role in the general race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> Just to be clear, you\u2019re referring to Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham\u2019s sister, correct?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> That\u2019s correct.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-embed flex-col items-center print:hidden\" id=\"third-party--article-mid\" data-module=\"InlineNewsletter\" data-module-source=\"web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\">\n<div class=\"-mx-5 sm:-mx-10 p-5 sm:px-10 xl:-ml-5 lg:mr-0 xl:px-5 bg-accentLight hidden\" data-name=\"subscribed\">\n<h2 class=\"font-sans font-light uppercase text-[30px] leading-8 text-white tracking-[0.01em] mb-0\">\n      We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. 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What is going on here \u2014 why such an interest in a race most people are likely not paying any attention to?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MH:<\/strong> City attorneys are one of those jobs that, as you said, a lot of voters don\u2019t pay attention to them. I think a lot of people in cities all over the country maybe couldn\u2019t tell you who the top lawyer of whatever city they live in even is. But this is a job that is largely tasked with enforcing regulations and laws and making companies that might be based in that city or might operate in that city comply with them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marissa Roy, this DSA-backed candidate, is currently a deputy attorney general for the state of California, and she\u2019s one of the people who helped the state prosecute this historic Meta settlement where Meta ended up having to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/nation\/meta-reaches-17-billion-settlement-with-states-in-landmark-trial-over-teen-social-media-addiction\">pay $17 billion<\/a> for harms to children using its technology. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We don\u2019t know exactly why John Hering and other tech leaders, like the founders of Ring and Tinder and investors in Anthropic and SpaceX, are spending so heavily in this race, but you might be able to conclude that they\u2019re interested in preventing a person who just helped carry out this huge settlement against Meta from becoming the city attorney of LA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of them are funding a group that\u2019s called Neighbors for John McKinney, which is backing the opponent in the race. John McKinney is the other candidate, and he is much less likely to win, but is propped up now by a lot of spending. They frame him as a tough-on-crime candidate; they say he\u2019s going to restore order to LA, help clean it up is the idea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like Matt was saying, often these tech investments in races don\u2019t actually foreground the interests of Big Tech, and they don\u2019t say explicitly, \u201cWe want to stop this person from coming into office because we\u2019re worried they\u2019re going to regulate our industry.\u201d Instead, they find a different issue and spend money on that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s also worth noting that John Hering, his group, frames John McKinney as a lifelong Democrat and very anti-MAGA, is the language they use. But John Hering himself is a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/27\/la-city-attorney-roy-mckinney-big-tech-billionaires\/\">big ally of Elon Musk<\/a>. He has been an eager investor in his companies. He said Musk was an \u201cAmerican hero\u201d this year, and he has spent pretty heavily also to support Musk\u2019s America PAC and the Trump campaign after previously spending on the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like many Silicon Valley types, he\u2019s had an evolution. And although he lives in San Francisco, he also spent in favor of <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/08\/la-mayor-results-raman-bass-pratt\/\">Spencer Pratt for LA mayor<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> Wow. Yeah, Big Tech has really come a long way from the \u201908 years in terms of their relationship with Democrats and Republicans, and propping up Spencer Pratt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt, I want to bring you in and get your perspective and kind of big picture. What has made this election cycle so popular for Big Tech?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> When it comes to AI and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/23\/crypto-donations-democrats-elections-bo-hines\/\">crypto<\/a> and the prediction markets, it\u2019s knowing that the next few years are really going to be critical for them in terms of regulation. These are all fairly young industries, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/09\/15\/congress-trump-crypto-clarity-blocked\/\">rules haven\u2019t been set yet<\/a>. The Trump administration is doing its best to set them, but Congress has not had a final word on any of those industries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They see a chance to shape the rules in a way that favors them, and they\u2019re just using the old Washington playbook of spending a bunch of money on campaigns and a bunch of money on lobbyists to try to shape the rules in their favor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> Is this just also a matter of them having more money to play with than they\u2019ve had before? Is this something tech probably would have done years ago if they\u2019d had this access to capital? Or is this really, like you said, just they\u2019re aware that there is existential risks to their industry if they don\u2019t?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Tech for the last few decades has had a lot of money. It\u2019s just been a huge part of the U.S. economy. But I think this move into more regulated spaces is maybe what\u2019s newer. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Microsoft is creating an internet browser or a word processor, that creates potential antitrust issues, and they have to spend political money in that sense. But they\u2019re not playing in the same kind of highly regulated financial spaces, and nobody ever thought that <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Office_Assistant\">Clippy<\/a> posed an <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/09\/14\/ai-doom-apocalypse-risk\/\">existential risk to humanity<\/a>. So we are moving into new territory when it comes to techs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> I miss Clippy. That is my one comment on that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I want to get both of you back in here. We\u2019ve been talking about some of the biggest donors in American politics today, and a few special interest groups in particular who\u2019ve obviously been experiencing public backlash \u2014 AIPAC, AI, and data centers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What do you make of this new record-level spending in a midterm election in particular? We\u2019ll obviously have more answers on this next week, but from what you\u2019ve observed so far, is it having the intended impact on voters? Maia, let\u2019s start with you.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MH:<\/strong> I think to use the cop-out that we keep coming back to, we won\u2019t really know if it worked with voters until after the results next week. But it\u2019s clear in this midterm cycle and maybe this is a reminder of kind of a perpetual truth in, when it comes to money in politics, that these big spenders are always going to <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/19\/crypto-donations-ritchie-torres-fellowship-pac\/\">fund candidates<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/23\/crypto-donations-democrats-elections-bo-hines\/\">both sides<\/a> of the aisle. Often election narratives and questions about special interests will really look to one party or the other and try to map this kind of spending onto partisan issues. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While some of that certainly happens, I think no matter which party gets control of either or both houses of Congress, there will be a lot of people elected next week who got there on the backs of Big Tech and special interests. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is something that voters are more and more aware of and more and more frustrated by, and we did see a lot of <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/09\/25\/progressive-justice-democrats-congress-ice\/\">rejection of that kind of big-money spending in the primaries<\/a>. But ultimately, I don\u2019t know how much that narrative has changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> Matt, I know you\u2019ve seen some specific examples of this impacting elections. Can you talk about that a little bit?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> One of the things that\u2019s been really interesting in the general election races is this race from candidates to paint themselves as the more pro-AI safety, pro-AI regulation candidate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve done some reporting in <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/22\/michigan-primary-will-lawrence-palestine\/\">Michigan\u2019s 7th [Congressional] District<\/a>, where a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement is trying to unseat an incumbent Republican, and he has from the start really run on being an anti-data center candidate, campaigning with local activists in small towns of a few thousand people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His Republican opponent is now <em>also<\/em> trying to paint himself as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wkar.org\/election-2026\/2026-10-27\/barrett-lawrence-target-data-centers-to-bridge-divides-in-tight-u-s-house-race\">data center skeptic<\/a> \u2014 using different language, more language about local control than about big, bad companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there\u2019s been such a backlash that we\u2019ve seen some changing tactics from the big AI super PACs in the runoff. One has donated money to a nonprofit that\u2019s more focused on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/31\/ai-advocacy-group-data-center-battleground-states\">building support for data centers<\/a>. Good luck with that, I guess.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then another, the Anthropic-aligned network, has essentially handed off money to a <a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2026\/10\/scott-wiener-congress-ai-group-gift\/\">pro-Scott Wiener super PAC<\/a> in California that already existed and already has funding <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/05\/14\/scott-wiener-billionaire-tax-california-house-race\/\">from other tech leaders<\/a> in the San Francisco area. But that donation has generated this whole <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/12106683\/12106683\">fight between Scott Wiener and his opponent, Connie Chan<\/a>, over who is the more pro-AI regulation candidate now. So it\u2019s a lot of candidates fighting to be the more pro-regulation candidate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just thinking back to your question about the effect on voters, I think for the super PACs and for their funders, the impact on candidates may ultimately be more important, on elected officials. They\u2019re backing a lot of people in <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/19\/crypto-donations-ritchie-torres-fellowship-pac\/\">safe seats<\/a> who don\u2019t really have a tight election. The goal may just be to buy themselves a few friends in Congress, because sometimes in Congress, it\u2019s just as good to have a few people who can stop regulation as it is to have people who can shape and actually pass laws.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> That\u2019s a good point. Speaking of the election, which we know is just days away, what are you two going to be following closely next week? Maia, I want to start with you.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MH:<\/strong> There\u2019s obviously a lot to follow next week, and more races than we can keep track of. One I think that will be very interesting that I was thinking about in terms of AIPAC spending \u2014 when Matt just mentioned this thing about AI groups backing candidates who are not in close races \u2014 is, of course, the Senate race in Maine. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the interesting takeaways we found in this AIPAC project is that in the primaries when AIPAC was spending, as it does in, in various races, one of the top recipients of its money was Susan Collins \u2014 who at the time did not have a primary challenger, but it spent heavily to support her primary campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So we\u2019ll obviously watch the Collins\u2013Jackson race in Maine. We have a reporter going there. Matt\u2019s going to go to Michigan. We also have a reporter going to Texas to track some of the big Senate races. Depending on how the results look, I think we\u2019ll pretty quickly be pivoting to accountability for, coverage for the people who are elected, who, maybe entered office vowing not to take corporate PAC money or not to take special-interest money, and to keep an eye on those now Congress members and see if they vote like it or if they continue to have that policy once they\u2019ve been elected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> And Matt, what are you following?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> As Maia mentioned, I will be in Michigan. Super interested in that 7th District race that I mentioned between Will Lawrence and Tom Barrett. But then the race everybody\u2019s going to be spinning and talking about for weeks probably: the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/19\/michigan-senate-mike-rogers-spending-private-jets\/\">Mike Rogers<\/a>\/Abdul El-Sayed race. It just is going to carry so much narrative heft going forward about what the voters were trying to say.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where are you going to be, Jessie? What are you going to be up to?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> I will be in D.C., and I\u2019ll be looking at what it means to have yet another election with the National Guard in town and essentially in an occupied city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ll also be looking into what it would mean for the district to have a socialist mayor, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/12\/dc-mayor-teen-curfew-kenyan-mcduffie-janeese-lewis-george\/\">Janeese Lewis George<\/a>, who is almost certain to win on Tuesday, particularly when it comes to ICE and the Metropolitan Police Department\u2019s collaboration with ICE. That\u2019s going to be something I\u2019m really keeping an eye on, not just on Election Day, but going forward to see if she can implement some of these really bold ideas that she\u2019s proposing in a city that\u2019s very constricted in what it can actually do because of federal law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But that\u2019s enough previewing from me. We\u2019re going to leave it there. Maia, Matt, thank you so much for joining me on The Intercept Briefing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MH:<\/strong> Thanks again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Thanks for having us.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JW:<\/strong> And thank you for listening. Next week we\u2019ll be back in your feed early with a special midterm election episode, so stay tuned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That does it for this episode. We want to hear from you. Tell us what you\u2019re following or want to see more coverage of. Email us at <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/30\/aipac-ai-spending-midterm-election\/mailto:podcasts@theintercept.com\">podcasts@theintercept.com<\/a> or leave us a voice mail at 530-POD-CAST, that\u2019s 530-763-2278.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This episode was produced by Laura Flynn. Jordan Uhl is our social media producer. Ben Muessig is our editor-in-chief. Maia Hibbett is our managing editor.\u00a0Nara Shin is our copy editor. William Stanton mixed our show. Legal review by David Bralow. Slip Stream provided our theme music.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This show and our reporting at The Intercept do not exist without you. Your donation, no matter the amount, makes a real difference. Keep our investigations free and fearless at <a href=\"http:\/\/theintercept.com\/join\">theintercept.com\/join<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And if you haven\u2019t already, please subscribe to The Intercept Briefing wherever you listen to podcasts. Do leave us a rating or a review, it helps other listeners find our reporting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Until next time, I\u2019m Jessica Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#AIPAC #Spent #Money #Midterm #Election<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a superlative achieved ag&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[246],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33494"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}