OPENAI AND ANTHROPIC ARE DUMPING $185 MILLION INTO THE 2026 MIDTERMS AND WRITING THEIR OWN RULEBOOK WHILE THEY DO IT The two most powerful AI labs in the world are now openly buying congressional seats to shape the laws that will govern them. AI spending in the 2026 midterms has topped $185 million as OpenAI and Anthropic back rival super PACs fighting over who gets to write the rules for the technology they built. OpenAI president Greg Brockman has helped fund Leading the Future, a super PAC that opposes stricter AI regulations. It has raised more than $75 million and already spent $23.5 million across dozens of races in Texas, Georgia, Illinois, and Montana. On the other side, Anthropic put $20 million into Public First Action, a nonprofit that opposes federal efforts to freeze state AI progress without adequate federal safeguards. The conflict runs deeper than politics. OpenAI and Anthropic are locked in an ideological feud about whether AI should be built fast and regulated loosely or developed cautiously under tighter oversight. They are now taking that argument to the ballot box, spending nine figures to install the legislators who will decide which philosophy wins. The American voter may soon find that the most consequential election choices in 2026 are being made by machines. Keywords: OpenAI Anthropic political spending, AI midterm elections, AI regulation PAC, tech lobbying 2026