{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-11-09T21:13:00+01:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-11-04-midterms-ai-super-pacs-musk-results/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-11-04-midterms-ai-super-pacs-musk-results/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"human editor","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-11-04-midterms-ai-super-pacs-musk-results","date":"2026-11-04","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Midterm results for AI money","deck":"Musk's record spending fails, pro-AI and pro-regulation PACs split wins","takeaway":null,"category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":3,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"partly","labels":["Partly confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"WIRED: The biggest pro-AI super PAC network didn't really impact the midterms","url":"https://www.wired.com/story/the-biggest-pro-ai-super-pac-network-didnt-really-impact-the-midterms/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"wired.com"},{"n":2,"title":"Citation Needed: 2026 election results","url":"https://www.citationneeded.news/2026-election-results/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"citationneeded.news"},{"n":3,"title":"TechCrunch: AI PACs spent millions trying to shape Congress","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/04/ai-pacs-spent-millions-trying-to-shape-congress-heres-how-they-fared/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"techcrunch.com"},{"n":4,"title":"SF Standard: Silicon Valley's political spending spree meets a blue wave and a data center revolt","url":"https://sfstandard.com/2026/11/04/silicon-valley-s-political-spending-spree-meets-blue-wave-data-center-revolt/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"sfstandard.com"},{"n":5,"title":"Politico Europe: Elon Musk dealt major blow in midterm elections","url":"https://www.politico.eu/article/elon-musk-dealt-major-blow-in-midterm-elections-2026/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"politico.eu"},{"n":6,"title":"FT: Talarico defeats Paxton in Texas","url":"https://www.ft.com/content/b2d07a1f-dfa6-449b-a598-1db51951d6f6","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"ft.com"},{"n":7,"title":"Capacity: 33 data centre curbs pass as US midterms turn the AI buildout into a political liability","url":"https://capacityglobal.com/news/33-data-centre-curbs-pass-as-us-midterms-turn-the-ai-buildout-into-a-political-liability/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"capacityglobal.com"},{"n":8,"title":"The Decoder: Exit polls show AI ranked last among voter priorities","url":"https://the-decoder.com/exit-polls-show-ai-ranked-last-among-voter-priorities-in-the-2026-u-s-midterms/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"the-decoder.com"},{"n":9,"title":"Politico: Dems made Big Tech a foil and they couldn't stop winning","url":"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/11/04/dems-made-big-tech-a-foil-and-they-couldnt-stop-winning-01148450","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"politico.com"}],"official":0,"filed":"2026-11-04","updated":"2026-11-05","orgs":["Leading the Future","Public First Action","America PAC"],"title":"Midterm results for AI money: Musk's record spending fails, pro-AI and pro-regulation PACs split wins","summary":"In the Nov 3, 2026 midterms Elon Musk's preferred candidates lost almost everywhere despite record spending (Politico: $446M; FT: $47M for Ken Paxton, who lost to James Talarico), while AI-industry PACs had mixed results: Leading the Future-backed Byron Donalds won Florida's governorship, and AI-regulation proponents Manny Rutinel and Adam Hamilton won.","key_facts":["WIRED (Nov 5): Leading the Future ended the midterms with $20M+ in the bank from about $100M raised, after focusing on safe bipartisan candidates; its riskier bets fell flat","Citation Needed (Molly White): crypto and AI super PACs spent $250M; they lost 9 of 12 competitive races called so far, spending $74.7M on losers and $28.3M on winners","Politico: Musk spent about $446M, a record for a non-candidate, and his preferred candidates mostly lost","Musk: about $446M, a record for a non-candidate (Politico Europe headline); SF Standard says $200M+ went to trying to defeat Talarico","Leading the Future backed Byron Donalds (won Florida governor) and Jared Moskowitz (won FL-25 over Public First-backed Scott Singer)","Pro-AI PACs American Mission and Building the Future spent millions for Darline Graham, who lost South Carolina's Senate race to Annie Andrews ('Data Center Darline')","Democrats flipped seven Republican Senate seats (Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas; Capacity)","Ballotpedia: 41 local data-centre measures in 10 states; at least 33 communities backed restrictions, one (North Dakota) backed construction","NBC/SSRS exit poll: AI and data centres were 'decisive or important' for 56%, last of five issues asked about (corruption 90%, cost of living 89%)"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["elections","midterms","super-pacs","politics","data-centers"],"science":null,"body_md":"## What happened\n\nThe SF Standard says Leading the Future launched with $100M in pledges and is now \"sitting on its cash and watching donors walk out the\ndoor.\" Results for Anthropic-funded Public First beyond FL-25, and for Alex Bores, were not found in what we read. Politico Europe and FT were\nnot readable for us (headline figures only). Sherrod Brown won Ohio despite about $55–63M in crypto PAC spending against him.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nThe first test of AI-industry money at national scale; the exit poll shows AI mattered to most voters but ranked below other issues.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-11-04-midterms-democrats-win-ai-data-centers-on-ballot","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-11-04-midterms-democrats-win-ai-data-centers-on-ballot/","date":"2026-11-04","date_precision":"day","short_title":"US midterms: Democrats win in Texas, Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania as AI and data centres become a voting issue","deck":null,"takeaway":"It is the first national election in which AI infrastructure was a mass voting issue, after AI super PACs spent tens of millions on both sides.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":4,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"partly","labels":["Partly confirmed"]},"sources":15,"official":0,"filed":"2026-11-04","updated":"2026-11-09","orgs":["US Congress"]},{"id":"2026-10-15-anthropac-q3-donations-split-parties","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-15-anthropac-q3-donations-split-parties/","date":"2026-10-15","date_precision":"day","short_title":"AnthroPAC splits Q3 donations between parties","deck":null,"takeaway":"Anthropic is fighting the administration in court and is widely seen as aligned with Democrats on AI regulation.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":2,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":2,"official":0,"filed":"2026-10-16","updated":"2026-10-16","orgs":["Anthropic"]},{"id":"2026-09-29-nyt-ai-super-pacs-55-7m-midterms","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-29-nyt-ai-super-pacs-55-7m-midterms/","date":"2026-09-29","date_precision":"day","short_title":"NYT: OpenAI- and Anthropic-aligned super PACs have spent $55.7M on the US midterms, and none of their 95 ads mention data centers","deck":null,"takeaway":"The two leading labs are fighting their policy battle (preemption and light rules versus safety rules) through proxy political spending.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":3,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"partly","labels":["Partly confirmed"]},"sources":20,"official":0,"filed":"2026-09-30","updated":"2026-10-29","orgs":["OpenAI","Anthropic","Meta","Leading the Future","Public First Action"]}],"people":[{"id":"elon-musk","name":"Elon Musk","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/elon-musk/"},{"id":"alex-bores","name":"Alex Bores","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/alex-bores/"}],"posts":[],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-11-05","type":"edit","text":"Added WIRED, Citation Needed and Politico tallies"},{"date":"2026-11-04","type":"filed","text":"Created"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-11-04","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-11-05","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-11-05"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":188,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":127,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-4-argon","name":"Gemini 4 Argon","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":218,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":157,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":null}