Leading the Future Burns $36 Million on 2026 Midterms as Riskier AI Bets Fall Flat
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Nov 4
Leading the Future Burns $36 Million on 2026 Midterms as Riskier AI Bets Fall Flat
3 articles · Updated · WIRED · Nov 4
Summary
Leading the Future emerged from the 2026 midterms with just over $20 million left, but its effort to shape races largely fizzled after spending about $26 million in primaries and roughly $10 million in the general election.
That money went mostly to safe candidates, while the network's higher-stakes interventions underperformed as polling showed distrust of Big Tech and Washington cronyism; it also reported zero new donations in the second and third quarters.
South Carolina offered the clearest setback: American Mission spent more than $2 million backing Darline Graham, who lost with 46.5% in a state Democrats had not won for Senate since 1998.
Other contested races also cut against the network, with Democrat Don Davis defeating AI-network-backed Republican Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina and Republican Aaron Flint conceding in Montana, while Jared Moskowitz was a rare supported winner.
The result strengthens AI-safety and tech-accountability forces that framed the election as a rebuke to anti-regulatory spending, with Democrats now signaling tougher scrutiny of Silicon Valley and possible Capitol Hill hearings.