Share 
Companies in the Artificial Intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency, and online gambling industries have emerged as the biggest spenders trying to shape the 2026 midterm races. Campaign finance watchdogs and interviews with over a dozen political strategists across both parties reveal that these industries are driving record amounts of business spending on congressional elections.
Besides the record spending, what’s also interesting is that these industries are edging traditional power brokers that have occupied that position for years, such as Wall Street, oil, pharmaceutical, and media industries. Interestingly, the top-spenders now are industries that barely existed a generation ago.
Record spending
Data compiled by Public Citizen, a corporate accountability nonprofit group, reveals that companies have spent unprecedented amounts on the 2026 U.S. House and Senate races. Corporate spending reached a record $517 million in the 15 months through the end of the first quarter. In contrast, spending reached $461 million over two years for the 2024 elections. Together, the cryptocurrency, technology, and online betting industries donated $294 million from January 1, 2025, through the first quarter. One of the factors that ties some of this together is the crypto prediction markets that you see on the market.
“The scale of corporate spending in this election cycle is unlike anything we’ve seen previously,” said Rick Claypool, research director at Public Citizen. “One-third of the corporate money that’s been spent since 2010 has been spent in this election cycle and it’s not even over yet. The amount of corporate money that’s been poured into these elections is unprecedented,” he added. Notably, spending is expected to shoot up during the closing stretch of the November 3 elections, especially as Democrats hope to take control of both the House and Senate.
No limits of midterm donations
Interestingly, the three industries are adopting a strategy pioneered by the crypto industry. The industries have structured their donations through a vast network of super PACs, affiliate PACs, and dark money nonprofits. Affiliate PACs get their money from the super PACs, while the dark money nonprofits don’t have to reveal their donors.
The groups can take unlimited sums on donations to spend on advertising, sponsoring campaign rallies, and organizing voter drives. However, they cannot coordinate spending with candidates or give directly to them.
Besides companies, executives are also spending big on the upcoming elections. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, has spent more than $90 million on the federal elections and plans to spend much more by November. Additionally, Sergey Brin, Google co-founder, has spent more than $106 million in California in a bid to defeat a proposed wealth tax.
Overall, analysis by advertising research firm AdImpact shows that all political spending from corporations, billionaire donors like Musk, labor groups, and social causes is projected to reach a record $11.6 billion, to be spent on political ads. In contrast, the amount spent on ads during the 2023-2024 election cycle was $11.2 billion.
Enhancing corporate interests
There is growing concern over the increasing rates of corporate spending on congressional contests. Critics warn that it risks amplifying the interests of those doing the spending, causing lawmakers to focus on issues like AI regulation and online betting at the expense of other issues that matter more to the public, such as healthcare and gas prices.
“When corporate money can inundate the political discourse, there’s less room for talk about what people really care about,” Claypool said. “Instead, you have the situation that we have in Congress now, where they are spending an inordinate amount of time discussing the niche regulatory policy problems related to crypto while people really just want cheaper groceries.”
However, supporters argue that the increased spending gives a voice to emerging sectors. Still, polls show that Americans are concerned that there is too much money in politics. Moreover, some politicians have built successful campaigns around these concerns, arguing that corporations and wealthy donors pull the strings in Washington. Progressive Democrat Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and James Talarico in Texas are good examples.
Disrupting the political playbook
Cryptocurrency companies Ripple and Coinbase spent heavily in 2024 in Ohio through Fairshake, their super PAC, to unseat longtime incumbent Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown. The crypto industry came up with such an efficient strategy for spending on political contests that Public Citizen dubbed its super PAC Fairshake a “corporate Death Star” capable of “annihilating individual candidates.”
The strategy went against the tradition of aligning with one party and instead backed candidates across both parties, supporting any candidates who supported their policies. The super PAC also spent millions campaigning against candidates who opposed their policies, ending their political careers.
Sen. Brown was one of the fiercest critics of the crypto industry when he was then-chair of the Senate Banking Committee. The strategy worked against him, causing him to lose his seat. Strategists say that he is now quiet on the issue as he tries to get back into the Senate, even conciliatory. Moreover, his campaign manager, Patrick Eisenhauer, also said that Brown “recognizes that cryptocurrency is part of America’s economy,” adding that he would keep an open mind.
Fairshake is financed almost entirely by Ripple, Coinbase, and Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm in California. The super PAC started the year with $193 million and still has about $130 million left to spend.
Analysis by Reuters shows that Andreessen Horowitz has given more than $81 million, mostly donating to AI and crypto PACs. Fairshake got about $23.8 million. The firm’s co-founders, Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, have also donated about $4 million each in their personal funds. Most of that money went to MAGA Inc., President Donald Trump’s super PAC.
AI making its presence felt
While AI’s spending almost went unnoticed in 2024, it shot up this time around, with AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic, alongside their executives, duking it out at a cost of more than $23 million in June alone. The two companies want opposing regulatory oversight, hence they are backing competing Democrat candidates in a heavily liberal district of New York City.
“It was basically two AI groups having it out with each other, and the candidates were secondary,” said Brendan Glavin, director at nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets.
Leading the Future, an AI super PAC, has raised about $140 million for the midterms. It has received substantial donations from Greg Brockman, the co-founder and president of OpenAI, his wife Anna, and Andreessen Horowitz. Records also show that Brockman and his wife have donated $25 million to MAGA Inc. However, the company distanced itself from the PAC, saying, “We want to be explicit: No outside political group speaks for OpenAI or represents our company’s views.”
Public First Action, a dark money nonprofit, has raised $100 million so far. Notably, Anthropic has donated at least $40 million to the group, according to confidential sources. Anthropic is also linked to a super PAC called Public First, which has raised about $3.9 million, with $1 million coming from the company’s co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei. Interestingly, Anthropic also runs a traditional PAC called AnthroPAC, which can donate directly to campaigns.
Online sports betting industry is stepping up
The online sports betting industry is also increasing its spending as it struggles with increased regulatory pressure. It is the largest corporate donor in this cycle, with FanDuel, DraftKings, Fanatics, and bet365 donating more than $72 million to the midterms, based on estimates by Public Citizen. Most of that money is directed via two affiliate PACs, American Future and American Conservative Fund, targeting races in states with harsh regulations. Blockratize Inc., the corporate parent of prediction market Polymarket, also donated $1 million separately to Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC.
