The U.S. Capitol Building is hit by a storm on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Washington, DC.
Graham Sloan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Funding from AI groups is becoming a flashpoint for the 2026 midterm elections, as major political action committees launched in 2025 with the backing of AI companies have announced their latest fundraising numbers.
Super PAC Leading the Future announced Wednesday that it raised $15 million across its organizations in the first quarter of 2026, bringing the group’s total revenue 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 supports candidates from both parties in the midterm elections. It also recently endorsed five House Democrats: Josh Gottheimer (D.J.), Sam Licciardo (D-Calif.), Yvette Clark (D.Y.), Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.), and Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.).
But a coalition of groups led by The Tech Oversight Project, an advocacy group seeking to break up big tech companies, is pressuring fellow Democrats to denounce the groups that support them.
A letter was sent to five members of Congress backed by Leading the Future asking them to “reject” Leading the Future, CNBC has learned exclusively. The letter, sent late Tuesday, was 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 mouthpieces of the Big Tech AI industry, seeking to whitewash their role in soaring energy prices, Trump administration overreach, and deadly harm to children and teens,” the Tech Watchdog Project and other groups said in the letter.
It is not clear whether these five members received donations from Leading the Future, as the group’s full first-quarter filing has not yet been released.
