Political groups supporting and opposing the AI industry spent millions of dollars in the mid-term elections on Tuesday, attempting to influence the outcome and shape the future of AI regulation. However, the results of these expenditures were mixed, with some candidates who received the most support ultimately losing.

On one side of the industry, two political action committees (PACs) that focus on AI – PAC and Building the Future – spent a total of $4.8 million to support South Carolina Senate candidate Darline Graham, but she ultimately lost. American Mission is the Republican spending arm for Leading the Future ( LTF ), while LTF is a larger political group backed by OpenAI President Greg Brockman and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

American Mission also spent over 500,000 US dollars to support the Republican candidates for the House of Representatives in Montana, Aaron Flint, and in North Carolina, Laurie Buckhout, but both lost the election. On the other hand, the Democratic spending department of LTF, Think Big, predicted correctly the outcome for Representative Jared Moskowitz from Florida, who was successfully reelected.

The results of groups advocating for stronger AI security measures vary. Public First, supported by Anthropic, managed to support several ultimately defeated Republicans through its affiliated PAC, but was more successful in supporting Democratic candidates. The organization also donated $3 million to a PAC that supports California State Senator Scott Wiener; as of press time, Wiener is in the lead in its campaign.

At the same time, Guardrails Alliance has been attempting to turn the acceptance of funds from AI into a political burden. The organization spent over one million dollars on each candidate, opposing two candidates who ultimately lost: California Representative Jimmy Gomez and Flint from Montana. It also spent 300,000 dollars supporting Angela Gonzales - Torres, who went on to defeat Gomez.

It is not easy to distinguish the impact of expenditures related to AI from the broader wave of Democratic victories in Tuesday’s elections. Reports indicate that Elon Musk also invested $500 million in supporting Republican candidates in the midterms, but many of the candidates he backed also lost. In fact, LTF also supported some candidates it deemed more likely to win, yet they still lost to Democrats.

However, for LTF, the general election is not the main focus. The organization informed TechCrunch before the election date that it believes the primary elections – which are the competitions that determine the nominees of each party – are a more efficient way to use funds. Investing in the primary elections can increase visibility and help candidates establish the AI policy agenda.

LTF spent 27.38 million dollars in the primary elections, of which 8 million dollars were alone spent opposing New York state legislator Alex Bores; Bores lost in the congressional elections in June this year. LTF will assess the intensity of the campaign, whether spending could potentially change the outcome, and whether funds should be reserved for future elections when deciding whether to get involved in the general election.

Guardrails Alliance Political Director Charlie Blaettler provided different explanations for the relatively lower investment in LTF during the general election.

“They don’t want their money to become an issue in these elections,” said Blaettler. He mentioned the Michigan Senate primary elections: a pro-Israel lobbying group named AIPAC spent nearly 30 million dollars supporting Democratic candidate Haley Stevens against Abdul El - Sayed. Stevens lost to El-Sayed in the primary, and the latter subsequently won the Senate seat.

“AIPAC became the story of that campaign,” said Blaettler. “We know people hate AI billionaires. They despise the controllers of these companies. They have great distrust and aversion towards the political spending and lobbying in the tech industry. If they get involved in a fiercely competitive election, it will only bring a huge burden to their own candidates.”

The main controversy between AI PAC is whether Congress should establish a unified national AI framework to replace state laws, or whether each state should continue to retain the power to set its own safety measures, regardless of whether it supports the industry or regulation.

Neither side seems to be willing to compromise. LTF advocates for a single, national AI framework and has informed TechCrunch that they plan to continue their efforts in the 2028 elections; Guardrails Alliance, on the other hand, indicates their desire to continue opposing candidates who have the support of the AI industry.

Blaettler said that the advertisements for LTF rarely mention AI directly, but instead focus on more popular topics among the candidates; in contrast, the advertisements for Guardrails Alliance clearly revolve around who has received money from the AI industry.

"Our goal is to make the AI funds politically toxic," said Blaettler.