Super PACs representing cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence interests spent $127 million across more than 100 primary elections this year. According to a POLITICO analysis of Federal Election Commission data, these groups won approximately 90% of the races in which they participated. The spending reflects a rapid increase in political activity for these tech sectors, with at least one in six members of the next Congress expected to have received their backing.
The success rates varied by political party and the level of competition. In Republican primaries, the groups maintained a nearly perfect record, often aligning their spending with endorsements from former President Donald Trump. In Democratic contests, the results were more mixed. While the groups secured numerous wins, they lost several high-profile races where their financial involvement became a campaign topic or where they faced opposition from other well-funded organizations.
Several distinct networks drove the spending. Fairshake, a pro-cryptocurrency super PAC funded by Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and Andreessen Horowitz, led the effort alongside two affiliated PACs for Democrats and Republicans. The AI sector was represented by Leading the Future, funded by executives like OpenAI’s Greg Brockman, and Public First Action, a nonprofit backed by Anthropic that advocates for AI regulation. Public First Action co-founder and former Rep. Brad Carson (D-Okla.) stated the group formed its own super PACs to provide a counterweight to other industry spending.
The scale of the spending reached record levels for individual primary contests. In New York’s 12th District, four tech-linked groups spent a combined $25 million in a single race. In other contests, single entities spent more than $10 million, a level that Rich Barton of Unite America said lacks precedent for primary elections. For individual candidates, this meant receiving significant boosts; Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.) won her primary by roughly one percentage point following $1.6 million in support from an AI-linked PAC. However, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) lost his seat despite $2 million in support from Fairshake, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi lost a Democratic Senate primary in Illinois despite nearly $10 million in spending from the same group.
This spending sets a new precedent for how emerging industries attempt to shape public policy by intervening early in the electoral process. Rather than focusing solely on general elections, these groups used the relatively lower costs of primaries to install preferred candidates before the November vote. Looking ahead, these organizations maintain significant resources for the general election; Fairshake and its affiliates reported nearly $123 million in cash on hand at the end of July 2026. This suggests that the tech sector's influence on the composition of Congress will continue through the midterm elections and into the next legislative session.