Ex-Tech Exec’s Congressional Bid Draws Millions in AI Opposition
▼ Summary
– Alex Bores, a candidate for New York’s 12th congressional district, is being attacked by ads for his past work at Palantir, but he states he quit the company in 2019 over its work with ICE.
– The attack ads are funded by a super PAC called Leading the Future, which is backed by major tech figures and has raised $125 million to oppose candidates supporting AI regulation.
– Bores sponsored the RAISE Act, a light-touch AI transparency law, and has proposed a national AI governance blueprint, positioning himself as a pro-regulation threat to unbridled industry control.
– Leading the Future and other Silicon Valley-backed PACs, including those funded by Meta, are spending tens of millions to influence elections and support candidates friendly to the tech industry.
– Bores argues the tech industry’s spending aims to intimidate officials, while he has support from a separate PAC and believes most Americans want balanced AI governance that benefits the public.
Recent political advertisements targeting New York assembly member Alex Bores have focused heavily on his former employment at Palantir, the data analytics firm known for its contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ads claim he profited from building technology that powered deportations. However, Bores states he left the company in 2019 specifically over its work with ICE. He is now a candidate for New York’s 12th congressional district, facing a well-funded opposition campaign from a super PAC backed by major figures in the technology industry.
The super PAC, called Leading the Future, has raised $125 million and is supported by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, and AI startup Perplexity. Its stated mission is to target candidates advocating for state-level AI regulation and to support those favoring minimal oversight. The group has committed to spending at least $10 million against Bores’s campaign. He believes they see him as a significant threat due to his technical background and his legislative record on AI. “They’re targeting me to make an example of me,” Bores said.
His background includes work at Palantir and several startups, and if elected, he would be only the second Democrat in Congress holding a computer science degree. “I actually deeply understand the technology and I can’t be dismissed as ‘this person just doesn’t understand it,’” he noted. This expertise, he argues, is precisely why he became Leading the Future’s first political target.
Bores sponsored the RAISE Act, an AI transparency law enacted in December. It mandates that large AI labs generating over $500 million in revenue must publish a safety plan, adhere to it, and report any catastrophic safety incidents. He describes this as a light-touch regulation focused on disclosure rather than heavy-handed oversight. Nevertheless, it drew strong opposition from parts of Silicon Valley. Bores contends that Leading the Future opposes any AI regulation unless it is crafted at the federal level, where industry lobbyists potentially hold more sway.
In the absence of comprehensive federal rules, states have become battlegrounds for AI policy. Last December, an executive order was signed directing federal agencies to challenge state laws deemed “onerous,” like the RAISE Act. Bores has proposed a detailed national AI governance blueprint with 43 policy recommendations, arguing that anyone serious about federal AI regulation should support his candidacy. He has also introduced bills to force companies to disclose training data components and to embed metadata standards for tracing synthetic content.
Leading the Future is not alone in its political involvement. Meta has invested $65 million into two super PACs, the American Technology Excellence Project and Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across (Meta) California, aimed at electing state candidates friendly to the AI and tech sector. Overall, AI companies, industry groups, and executives donated at least $83 million to federal campaigns and committees in 2025. Bores emphasized the scale of this spending, noting that a typical New York assembly race might raise $100,000 total. “For one company to be spending $65 million on state races… I think it’s tough for people to understand how much that is above the norm,” he said.
In contrast, Bores has gained support from a separate PAC called Public First Action, which is backed by Anthropic and is spending $450,000 on his race. This group also identifies as pro-AI but emphasizes transparency, safety, and public oversight. Bores describes Leading the Future as representing “an extremely small minority of voices” who view any regulation as a threat and simply “want to let it rip.” Interestingly, he counts tech workers from the very companies whose leadership opposes him among his supporters, reflecting internal industry debates over AI ethics and deployment.
He positions the debate as having two extremes: a minority wanting no regulation and another minority wishing to halt AI development entirely. Bores believes most Americans occupy a middle ground, using AI and recognizing its potential while worrying about its rapid, unchecked advancement. “[They] wonder if the government is up to the task of ensuring we have a future that benefits the many instead of the few,” he concluded.
(Source: TechCrunch)
