AI-linked super PACs and groups connected to AI laboratories and investors have directed nearly $1 million toward Republican Senator Mike Rounds’s reelection campaign in South Dakota. Outside organizations have spent about $600,000 on his behalf, largely through Defend American Jobs, which receives backing from an Andreessen Horowitz-funded super PAC. Employees and PACs affiliated with AI companies, especially Anthropic, plus Google and Microsoft-linked interests, contributed roughly another $215,000 according to FEC filings.
The spending is intended to protect a congressional ally as lawmakers consider AI regulation and as disputes over the water, energy, and tax costs of data centers intensify. Rounds has supported the AI industry and endorsed restrictions on data centers after South Dakota lawmakers rejected some incentives and required hyperscalers to bear more infrastructure costs.
https://www.wired.com/story/ai-pacs-have-dumped-nearly-1-million-into-an-obscure-senate-race/
oxhak / Ox HaK
npub1sx…dz7z7
2026-09-18 15:06:09 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1sxexewvzysc3affq4yzzh7w8e3udyujap2vlj7t6lkdg5dvhp24q4dz7z7Published at
2026-09-18 15:06:09 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "AI-linked super PACs and groups connected to AI laboratories and investors have directed nearly $1 million toward Republican Senator Mike Rounds’s reelection campaign in South Dakota. Outside organizations have spent about $600,000 on his behalf, largely through Defend American Jobs, which receives backing from an Andreessen Horowitz-funded super PAC. Employees and PACs affiliated with AI companies, especially Anthropic, plus Google and Microsoft-linked interests, contributed roughly another $215,000 according to FEC filings.\n\nThe spending is intended to protect a congressional ally as lawmakers consider AI regulation and as disputes over the water, energy, and tax costs of data centers intensify. Rounds has supported the AI industry and endorsed restrictions on data centers after South Dakota lawmakers rejected some incentives and required hyperscalers to bear more infrastructure costs.\n\nhttps://www.wired.com/story/ai-pacs-have-dumped-nearly-1-million-into-an-obscure-senate-race/",
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