The PAC war: Bores v. Lasher

What actually happened, by the numbers

Groups linked to OpenAI and Anthropic collectively spent more than $23 million on pro- and anti-Bores messaging. Anthropic contributed $20 million to Public First Action, a nonprofit opposing "federal efforts to freeze state progress without adequate federal safeguards." Leading the Future — funded mainly by Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI president Greg Brockman — spent roughly $8 million opposing Bores, who co-sponsored New York's RAISE Act.

Alex Bores, after finishing second to Micah Lasher

"Some of the richest people on the planet — a handful of oligarchs determined to prevent any check on their power — decided to make an example out of this race. They spent over $10 million to do it... They set out to make people afraid to stand up to them. Instead, they learned just how ready people are to push back."

Molly White, independent researcher, on what the spending was really for

"If Alex Bores is elected, one fairly junior congressperson is not likely to have an enormous impact on the ultimate AI regulation... I do think that one of the major focuses of these super PACs is really about sending a message to other candidates... Whichever PAC is on the winning side will use those victories as sort of a threat towards other candidates."

The wrinkle that complicates a clean two-sided story

Micah Lasher won — and he had co-sponsored the same state AI law Bores did, but wasn't targeted the same way. One analysis called this the opposite of deterrence: a legislator who "enters Congress with an implicit mandate to resist both sides... politically immunized against future AI-industry pressure by virtue of having won despite it."