Midterm elections in the USA, the AI ​​lobby invests in candidates who are friends of Big Tech

Second a New York Times analysisin 2025 alone, AI-related companies, executives and groups donated at least $83 million to federal campaigns, a figure that rises to about $150 million when state-level initiatives are included. Added to these are new flows of money. A pro-AI group, Innovation Council Action, supported by Donald Trump’s political camp and close to his advisor David Sacks, plans to invest at least 100 million dollars in the November elections, supporting candidates in favor of deregulation and penalizing those who want more stringent rules on artificial intelligence.

Il system is being structured around a network of super PACs and parallel groups. Leading the Future, backed by Silicon Valley investors and figures linked to OpenAI, has raised about $125 million on its own. Meta allocated another 65 million to campaigns in individual states. On the opposite side, organizations in favor of stricter regulation are trying to respond: Public First Action aims to raise up to $75 million, while the Future of Life Institute has launched an $8 million advertising campaign. In this way, the regulation of artificial intelligence has become one of the central issues in the race for control of Congress. Public First Action, the network funded by Anthropic, is committed to promoting safer artificial intelligence: it has just presented an advertising campaign in support of two moderate Democrats, Josh Gottheimer and Valerie Foushee, increasingly central in the debate on the regulation of AI and co-chairs of the new House Democratic commission dedicated to the topic. The industry’s goal is to avoid fragmented regulation. “We want to avoid a patchwork of state laws that slow down innovation,” is the line supported by many industry players, who call for a single federal standard. A position also linked to competition with China, which is increasingly present in the political debate on AI. According to CNBC, the industry is trying to replicate the strategy used by the cryptocurrency sector in 2024, when a single super PAC helped elect more than 50 favorable candidates.

A division that goes beyond parties. An increasingly clear conflict is emerging on this point. Part of the democratic left is calling for slowing down. Senator Bernie Sanders is among the most critical and proposes more stringent limits on the development of artificial intelligence and related infrastructure, including a possible moratorium on the construction of new data centers. The theme is not only technological but also environmental and social, linked to energy consumption, water use and the impact on local communities. At the same time, a growing part of public opinion is skeptical. Several polls indicate that a majority of Americans support the introduction of rules for the safety and transparency of AI, even at the cost of slowing development. Even within the conservative camp there is no shortage of dissent: Some Republicans have expressed doubts about the approach being too permissive and have opposed limiting the power of states. In recent months some Republican leaders have distanced themselves from the more permissive line.

Senators Josh Hawley and Marsha Blackburn blocked an administration attempt to limit states’ power to regulate artificial intelligence. A position also shared by figures such as Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who defended the role of the states against centralization at the federal level. Despite these divisions, the line of the political area linked to Donald Trump remains oriented towards acceleration. Artificial intelligence is considered a strategic sector in global competition and therefore needs to be developed rapidly. The White House has indicated its desire to favor a lighter national regulatory framework and to limit the possibility for individual states to introduce autonomous rules, precisely to avoid obstacles to the advancement of the sector.

David Sacks’ position also fits in this directiona Silicon Valley investor and former head of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies at the White House, who supports the need for a single federal regulatory framework. According to this view, a fragmented system of state laws would risk slowing American growth and favoring international competitors, particularly China. Sacks himself was recently appointed to lead the President’s Science and Technology Advisory Council, alongside leading industry figures such as Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, Larry Ellison and Marc Andreessenconfirming the increasingly close link between the technology industry and political decision-making.

From Ashburn, Virginia, about thirty minutes from Washington, you enter what is known in the United States as Data Alley. The highest density of data centers in the world is concentrated here. They don’t want to talk. They smile and wave, but signal with their hand that they can’t. It’s four in the afternoon and most of the workers are leaving the construction sites. Around, dozens of new buildings. Reinforced concrete cubes, low and enormous, often surrounded by cameras and security systems. The more than 200 data centers in the Ashburn areawhich doubles if you consider all of Northern Virginia, handle about 70 percent of the world’s internet traffic. The first was built in 1998 by Equinix near America Online’s headquarters. Today that headquarters no longer exists, demolished in 2023, while the sector continues to grow. According to an analysis by S&P Global, approximately $47 billion was invested in the construction of new data centers in the United States and Canada in the first eleven months of 2025, out of a global total of $61 billion.

“For those who work there it is an opportunity, but for the local community it has been a worsening,” Jeremy, 50, met in a local brewery, tells AdnKronos. His family has lived here for generations. The problem, say several residents, is first of all economic. Energy bills have increased by up to 30 percent in recent years. Added to this is the water consumption necessary to cool the structures. According to a study by the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, water demand in the region could grow by 17 percent by 2050. There is less and less space available and data centers are moving closer to population centers. Residents talk about constant noise, loss of agricultural land and reduction of natural areas. And there’s a big problem for both local politicians and the White House.

According to data from an NBC News poll, Most voters, both right and left, favor stricter rules on the expansion of AI, showing how the technology creates more concerns and tensions than ICEthe border police used by Trump in recent months to arrest undocumented immigrants in American cities. “We are losing biodiversity and part of our history for something we don’t really know,” says a woman who prefers to remain anonymous and who lives near one of the new plants. (Of Angel Fear)