New York City House primary emerges as key battleground in 'AI civil war'

[ancianita]

Source: The Guardian

The frenzy began a year ago, when Bores sponsored the Raise Act, the second-ever US state law requiring major AI developers to publish public safety plans. By August, his congressional campaign was under siege - attack ads on TV, by text, in the mail. The effort has been funded by Think Big, an affiliate of Leading the Future, a new bipartisan network of Super Pacs created to back "pro-AI" candidates, which has poured $8.2m into the primary.

... The frenzy began a year ago, when Bores sponsored the Raise Act, the second-ever US state law requiring major AI developers to publish public safety plans. By August, his congressional campaign was under siege - attack ads on TV, by text, in the mail. The effort has been funded by Think Big, an affiliate of Leading the Future, a new bipartisan network of Super Pacs created to back "pro-AI" candidates, which has poured $8.2m into the primary.

Just four donors fund its $75m war chest: venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman with his wife, Anna, according to data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Like most of Silicon Valley, the group advocates for regulating AI with a federal framework, instead of a patchwork of state laws - a compliance minefield that will hand the AI race to China, tech firms warn.

However, Leading the Future's anti-Bores ad blitz triggered a counter-assault by a different set of Super Pacs advocating for stronger AI safeguards. They include You Can Push Back, funded by crypto billionaire Chris Larsen, and Jobs and Democracy, the Democrat-focused subsidiary of the Public First - a network of Super Pacs, founded by Brad Carson, a former Democratic congressman from Oklahoma.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/22/new-york-city-house-primary-race

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Any regulation of AI should start with all things [link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_technologyFinTech,] imo, which Bores apparently understands. If pro-AI deregulation oligarchs win against Bores and his oligarch supporters in New York City, they'll have a playbook that likely can take over the financial capital of the world. This first pro-AI win could mean serious ramifications for investors (pension funds, for example) not to mention campaign finance & dark money streams that exist because of the Citizens United ruling. Admittedly I don't know much of anything about Fintech Law, or if there is even such a thing.

[efhmc]

1. Even here in this backward Texas town it is an issue. Hopefully we will push it.

[ancianita]

3. I'm not sure what you mean by "it," and "we will push it." Do you mean AI in general? Or AI regulation?

Is this your general sense of individuals' opinions, or has AI been discussed at town government levels?

[IbogaProject]

6. Lots of Data Centers in Texas

Due to their lax environmental regulations and independent energy market.

[ancianita]

8. Not surprising, though I'm not sure how AI connects with this. Regardless, do you have a sense of how

most Texans see Data Centers and/or the state's self contained electrical grid?

[IbogaProject]

13. A total of at least 400 operating or under construction in Texas.

https://news.utexas.edu/2026/05/06/data-centers-are-growing-in-texas-but-big-questions-remain-about-water-use/

The white paper, “Water Use Requirements for Data Centers in Texas,” was developed by the COMPASS research consortium, which was created by the Bureau of Economic Geology. COMPASS works closely with industry leaders, policymakers and local communities to help understand and manage the impact of the growing data center sector on issues such as power use, land use, infrastructure planning and workforce issues.

The boom of data centers in Texas and across the country is fueled by the growing computing needs of artificial intelligence. Researchers said more than 400 data centers are operating or under construction in Texas and that more are planned. However, it is difficult to know how many of the facilities in the planning phase will come to fruition.

[ancianita]

16. Un believable. Though TX has 15 river basins, these DC's will still suck them dry. Are Texans really OK with this?

And how could they not hurt current agriculture water needs. It all sounds like an ecological disaster in the making.

[efhmc]

9. AI

[EverHopeful]

2. In case anyone's interested, Bores is endorsed by Bernie Sanders

and Our Revolution. Also talked with a young man on the street the other day who was handing out flyers for Bores and he said Bores is definitely in favor of overturning Citizens United and regulation of AI. He also talked about the huge amount of money being donated to smear him by the Super Pacs who don't seem to want any regulation of AI.

[ancianita]

4. Good to know. Thanks.

[efhmc]

12. I hate/despise BS because of his destruction of Hillary. I know not allowed to say this here but it is still true.

[IbogaProject]

14. He endorsed her,

She on the other hand didn't bother to campaign in Mi or Wi, and made little effort to counter that gotcha ad they played of her speaking of young minorities as "super predators". And the heavy handed trying to call the win too early in the primary was off putting. She lost on her own account.

[markpkessinger]

17. In addition . . .

. . . in a campaign season where populist sentiment was running high, and Trump was barnstorming across the country with one huge rally after another, Hillary opted to confine most of her appearances to small groups of well-heeled donors, which didn't exactly dispel fears by some voters that she was an elitist.

I've never bought the notion that Bernie hurt Hillary. I was a Bernie supporter in the primary, but like approximately 87% of Bernie supporters, I gave full support to Hillary during the general election. And as for that 13% who didn't vote for her, I can tell you this: many of those folks wouldn't even have been voting Democratic at all but for Bernie.

When Bernie brought up the issue of her speeches to Wall Street banks, rather than try to get out in front of the issue, Hillary stonewalled . . . which left her wide open for the Wikileaks dump that happened a few weeks before the general election.

I believe Hillary would have made an excellent president. But she ran a TERRIBLE campaign! Her mistakes were unforced, and were entirely of her own making!

[EverHopeful]

15. Don't know that you're not allowed to say it here

but I'm certain we wouldn't be in our current mess if the DNC hadn't been so hell-bent on Hillary being the candidate.

I made calls for her once she was the candidate but can't help thinking that the neoliberal, triangulating, third-way Dems paved the way for our current mentally ill, mobbed-up, authoritarian moron.

We've proven once again that if you keep enough people miserable enough for long enough, they'll go authoritarian.

[IbogaProject]

5. I voted for Mr Bores

As he got endorsed by Labor. He clearly had some big donors behind him, which made me hesitant. But the amount of paper spam he and Lasher flooded my mail with was obscene. Jack Schlossberg also had lots of canvassers but he kept his missives to digital. We also have George Conway, of all people, running but he had no visibility.

[ancianita]

7. Good. Thanks for providing the context of the campaigns that candidates ran.

[Akakoji]

10. I voted for Alex Bores last week

And refuse to vote for Bloombergs hit man should Democrats be stupid enough to vote for him. Remember, this is not a ranked choice primary, but a federal election. In my opinion everyone else besides Bores is a spoiler to this CDs needs. There’s a reason why every union has endorsed Alex Bores, especially the teacher’s union. And, we’ve never gotten over the racist stop and frisk policy that Micah Lasher literally wrote for Bloomberg. Or Micah Lasher’s destruction of workers pension funds in the service of whatever politician was his boss at the time. Alex Bores influenced by dark money pacs? No. Does having billionaires like Bloomberg openly fund your campaign somehow make a difference in the solutions you offer?

[ancianita]

11. Good! Especially if he's been endorsed by unions, especially the teachers.

Thanks for the insider look at Bloomberg. I never knew all that you explain here about him, which is how I know that New Yorkers are fast learners and smart voters.