AI Super PAC Leading the Future Cuts October Spending to $4.1M

Leading the Future, the artificial intelligence industry super PAC network launched in August 2025 with promises of $100 million from tech executives including venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, spent $4.1 million in October despite holding nearly $24 million in cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission filings reported by Emily Shugerman and Dustin Gardiner in The San Francisco Standard.

Through its affiliated PACs, Think Big and American Mission, Leading the Future has spent less than $10 million in the 2026 general election — directed primarily toward safe incumbents rather than battleground races in Arizona, North Carolina, and Montana — after spending roughly $26 million during the primaries. Across the full election cycle, the network has spent $42 million, trailing the crypto industry's Fairshake PAC ($196 million in 2024 and more than $150 million this cycle), Elon Musk's America PAC (about $172 million), AIPAC (more than $100 million), and the sports-betting industry's Win for America PAC (about $80 million).

Leading the Future spokesperson Jesse Hunt said the organization is pursuing a multi-cycle strategy to build long-term congressional relationships. However, political strategists and advocacy groups told The San Francisco Standard that public concern over AI job displacement and the electricity demands of data centers — with proposed data-center moratoriums emerging in nearly 500 communities nationwide over the past year — has turned AI-aligned PAC money into a campaign flashpoint.

Donor Retreats and Rival AI PAC Clashes

Internal industry divisions and donor pushback have also reshaped the group's fundraising:

• Donor Pullbacks: OpenAI President Greg Brockman, who donated $25 million to Leading the Future last year, pulled out of a second planned $25 million contribution in June, calling the controversy "a distraction." According to an adviser, early backer and venture capitalist Ron Conway also regretted his $500,000 contribution to the network.
• Clash With Anthropic-Backed Public First Action: Public First Action, a pro-regulation PAC funded largely by AI company Anthropic, has spent about $28 million in the 2026 cycle. In New York's District 12 primary, Leading the Future spent about $8 million opposing Assemblymember Alex Bores, a proponent of AI safety legislation, while Public First Action spent $12 million supporting him. Although Micah Lasher won that Manhattan primary (and subsequently rejected industry funding while calling for a national moratorium on data-center construction), Sacha Haworth, director of the Tech Oversight Project, said the spending clash triggered nationwide voter backlash. In October, Public First Action spent about $1.1 million — including nearly $600,000 backing Colorado congressional candidate Manny Rutinel — while its 501(c)(4) nonprofit arm spent $30 million since July on polling and educational advertising.

San Francisco House Race and California Campaign Debate

In San Francisco's congressional race to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi, AI campaign spending has become a central line of attack between State Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Connie Chan.

After Public First Action contributed $3.5 million to an outside PAC supporting Wiener, Chan ran television advertisements criticizing over $3 million in TV spending and accusing Wiener of backing massive data centers. Wiener countered by pointing to his authorship of California's SB 53, the nation's first state law directly regulating frontier AI models.

In Southern California, the Guardrails Alliance — an advocacy PAC led by director Shaunna Thomas — has spent more than $1 million opposing Los Angeles Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez after Gomez was endorsed by Leading the Future.