AI-linked super PACs spend nearly $1 million on Mike Rounds Senate race

In short: Big political spending groups tied to AI companies and investors are putting close to $1 million into Senator Mike Rounds’s South Dakota reelection race.

What's going on

Outside groups connected to AI labs and tech investors have spent heavily on the South Dakota Senate race for incumbent Republican Mike Rounds, according to WIRED and federal campaign filings. A super PAC is a political group that can raise and spend large amounts of money to support candidates, but it cannot coordinate directly with the candidate.

WIRED reports that Rounds has benefited from around $600,000 in outside spending this election cycle. Most of that came from a super PAC called Defend American Jobs, which is funded by another super PAC backed by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Rounds has also received roughly $215,000 in contributions linked to employees and super PACs connected to AI labs and major tech companies, including Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft, based on Federal Election Commission filings. With fewer than 50 days before the midterm elections, polls cited by WIRED show Rounds leading independent candidate Brian Beng after the Democratic candidate dropped out.

The spending also connects to a growing fight over data centers, which are large buildings filled with computers that power online services, including many AI systems (think of them as giant server warehouses). South Dakota lawmakers passed a bill this year pushing big data center companies to pay more of the water and energy costs.

What to watch

AI policy is expected to be a bigger issue in the next Congress, and companies appear to be spending to keep friendly lawmakers in place. Watch whether more AI-linked groups target other races, and whether debates over data centers, water, and power costs become a central election issue in more states.

Source: Wired