Proxy war between AI industry, safety groups comes to head in NY House primary

Technology Proxy war between AI industry, safety groups comes to head in NY House primary Comments: by Miranda Nazzaro - 06/23/26 11:29 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Miranda Nazzaro - 06/23/26 11:29 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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New York City voters are set to deliver their verdict Tuesday in one of the most prominent election battles between artificial intelligence companies and the nonprofits pushing for stricter rules on the new technology.

The fight over AI policy has loomed over the Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D), as pro-AI and tech safety spending groups wage a proxy war through candidate Alex Bores.

Bores, a New York state assembly member and former computer engineer for Palantir, has campaigned heavily on AI safety concerns, an increasingly potent political issue. His candidacy has drawn a flood of spending from competing factions of the AI space.

The Silicon Valley-backed super PAC Leading the Future spent more than $8 million against Bores’s nomination, while multiple AI safety groups poured more than $20 million in support of him, making the race the second most expensive House primary on record, according to AdImpact.

The spending battle is part of a broader debate on AI policy that is forcing candidates and lawmakers across the country to answer whether and how they plan to regulate the advancing technology.

The race is an “interesting test case” for both industry and safety groups’ spending, Democratic strategist Eddie Vale told The Hill. It showed “a lot of the different AI PACs starting to poke and prod and look for what the best strategy is,” Vale added.

Bores is neck-and-neck with former New York State Assembly member Michah Lasher, according to recent polls, while Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former President Kennedy, and George Conway, a former Republican and frequent President Trump critic who is now a Democrat, trail behind.

Lasher was long seen as the likely replacement for Nadler, but strategists say the AI spending over Bores elevated his candidacy..

“It very quickly raised his profile,” Vale said Monday. “If you’re talking about a potentially crowded primary, especially in an extremely blue district, getting attacked by an industry group can help you. It can raise your profile with voters, it can help you out with fundraising.”

AdImpact found about $3.6 million was spent on ads attacking Bores, and $1.6 million against Lasher. About $9.3 million was spent on ads supporting Bores, and about $8.6 million for Lasher.

Bores was the first target for Leading the Future, which launched last summer with more than $100 million in commitments from OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna, venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, AI firm Perplexity, venture capitalist Ron Conway and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

The organization opposes candidates who support policies the tech industry believes will hamper AI innovation or make it harder to reap the benefits of the technology.

LTF took issue with Bores for his bill, the RAISE (Responsible AI Safety and Education) Act, which requires AI firms to publish information about their safety protocols and report incidents. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed the bill into law late last year.

In its first anti-Bores ad last December, LTF’s Democratic arm, the Think Big PAC, said the RAISE Act will “create a chaotic patchwork of state rules” that would “crush innovation, cost New York jobs” and “fail to keep people safe.”

Even so, some of the leading firms including OpenAI and Anthropic have endorsed it and similar laws in Illinois and California.

LTF co-strategist Josh Vlasto said the operation supports passing a national regulatory framework for AI that “creates jobs for American workers, helps America win the race against China, and includes strong guardrails that protect the safety of kids, users and communities.”

He emphasized this does not mean LTF is against regulation as a whole.

The Trump administration has also advocated for a federal preemption of most state AI laws, but Congress has so far failed to move any provision across the finish line.

In another ad, Think Big went after Bores’s work at Palantir, where he was a U.S. government lead with a focus on “strategic partnerships.” Bores served in various roles at the firm for about four years and says he resigned in 2019 because of the company’s work with ICE.

These ads have hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube alone and Bores’s quick team seized on the increased attention, framing LTF’s backers as “Trump mega donors.”

In an opinion piece last week, Bores emphasized what he believes his win or loss this week could mean for the tech industry’s spending efforts at-large.

“If they succeed—if tens of millions of dollars in attack ads can take out a candidate before he ever sets foot in Congress—a chilling effect will sweep into every statehouse and every congressional office in the country,” Bores wrote in the piece, published by The Nation.

“But if we win, this dynamic gets turned on its head,” Bores wrote. “Our victory would send a clear message to other leaders that running on these issues is viable, that the spending can be withstood, and that the industry’s intimidation campaign isn’t invincible.”

Comparing the numbers, Bores still received more money in total from pro-safety groups.

The most recent, called the Guardrails Alliance, threw $285,000 to Bores’s campaign last week, framing LTF’s efforts as “billionaires trying to steal our elections.”

Another political operation, Public First, was launched last fall by former Reps. Brad Carson (D-Okla.) and Chris Stewart (R-Utah), who also run separate Republican and Democrat super PACs. It has a $20 million backing from Anthropic, which pushes for more requirements for AI model testing.

Public First’s Democratic-aligned PAC, Jobs and Democracy, spent more than $15 million to support Bores, according to last-minute campaign finance records.

Another PAC, You Can Push Back, launched in April with a multi-million-dollar backing from Chris Larsen, the co-founder of crypto firm Ripple. Records show it spent more than $3.3 million in support of Bores. Dream NYC, which launched last November, also poured more than $2.3 million into the race for Bores.

Some of these groups’ ads focused on the negative impacts of AI, including environmental risks, job loss, and rising electricity costs, while others said Bores will protect people from the “political machine.”

“This seems like a genuine populist response,” GOP strategist Chris Johnson told The Hill. “This is going to be one of those things where folks who are in the organizing and activist space are going to see the energy around this backlash to these LTF- type groups and see it as an opportunity.”

Some political strategists see NY-12 race as a litmus test for AI industry and pro-safety spending, though it will likely be difficult to tell exactly what prompted voters. While AI is playing a bigger-than-ever role in the 2026 midterms, strategists told The Hill it’s likely not a single issue for voters.

“AI is one of many things that is leading to folks worrying about a set of issues,” Johnson said.. “AI plays a role in the affordability stuff, energy stuff, it plays a role in concerns about safety in social media and tech and none of that maps neatly in one direction or the other.”

Out of the 21 primary races so far with LTF-backed candidates, only one has lost. In addition to the Bores race, LTF has four other backed candidates on Tuesday’s ballot including Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) and former Rep. Ben McAdams (D-Utah).

Vale said he doesn’t think the outcome of NY-12 will be a “final proof point.”

“There’s still a long way to go to see how this all shakes out,” he said.