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As tech giants race to build massive data centers to fuel the AI boom, Texas has emerged as a key battlefield in the fight over who shapes rules for the industry in Washington.
Super PACs tied to artificial intelligence companies have dropped millions of dollars into Texas primaries this cycle, zeroing in on battleground races in Houston, San Antonio and Austin.
One group seeking to limit state-level restrictions on AI and data centers, American Mission, spent nearly $850,000 on ads boosting Chris Gober in the race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, per research firm AdImpact. Gober– formerly a lawyer for tech billionaire Elon Musk– cleared a crowded field in the March Republican primary election with help from the super PAC.
One TV spot that the group aired promises that Gober will “promot(e) American technology investment here in Texas so we can defeat China,” but doesn’t mention AI. American Mission is an offshoot of Leading the Future, a PAC bankrolled by OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and heavyweight pro-AI investors like Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the Washington Post reported.
Gober’s campaign website also frames machine learning as a way to compete with China, but includes the caveat that “while we must win the global AI race, it is critical that we preserve our rural character and invest in infrastructure that benefits-not burdens-our local communities.”
On the other side, a newer player with ties to AI firm Anthropic, Defending Our Values PAC, is spending big, too.
The group dropped more than $480,000 on advertising to boost Carlos De La Cruz in a newly redrawn San Antonio-area district, helping propel the relatively unknown candidate into the Republican primary runoff. De La Cruz, an Air Force veteran who is also the brother of U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, is going up against state Rep. John Lujan on May 26.
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The super PAC is part of a network that has advocated for safeguards on generative AI software, Public First Action. But you wouldn’t know AI was the issue from the ads.
An ad it aired on De La Cruz’s behalf steers clear of mentioning technology, instead touting Trump’s endorsement and saying the candidate will “work tirelessly to grow our economy, cut taxes and regulations, and keep our borders secure.” De La Cruz’s online platform, meanwhile, calls AI “one of the most significant technological advances of our lifetime” and says he supports investing in energy infrastructure to support the technology, as well as strengthening restrictions on the export of the advanced semiconductors that power it. He also says he backs safeguards like “transparency when AI impersonates humans” and protection from nonconsensual deepfakes, or AI images that look like a real person.
American Mission and Defending Our Values have funded five other congressional candidates in competitive Texas races, spending at least $2.8 million in total, according to campaign finance filings analyzed by the AI news publication Transformer.
Defending Our Values, the “pro-safety” group, has spent $234,000 boosting Houston’s Alex Mealer in the GOP primary runoff for CD-9 and $150,000 for Democrat Colin Allred in the Dallas-area 33rd congressional district. Meanwhile, the “pro-innovation” American Mission has backed Jessica Hart Steinmann in CD-8, Tom Sell in CD-19 and Jace Yarbrough in CD-32, spending upwards of $500,000 on Sell and Hart and $129,000 on Yarbrough’s behalf.
It’s hard to tell how much influence these groups will have over Congress if their chosen candidates are elected, but it’s clear they see an existential threat, or opportunity, in Congress as the body looks to craft legislation on AI.
This article originally published at AI companies pour money into Texas congressional primaries, runoffs.