AI proxy war between Anthropic and OpenAI ends in $27M draw

The expensive proxy war between Anthropic and OpenAI over New York Assemblyman Alex Bores ended in a draw as Bores narrowly lost the Democratic primary for New York's 12th Congressional district. Bores, a former tech employee, authored the RAISE Act—a high-profile state law imposing guardrails on frontier AI companies. This legislation drew the ire of Leading the Future, a $100 million super PAC funded by OpenAI, Palantir, and Andreessen Horowitz executives, which spent $8.15 million opposing Bores. In response, Anthropic-linked super PACs—Jobs and Democracy PAC, Dream NYC, You Can Push Back, and the Guardrails Alliance—poured $19.26 million into supporting Bores. Despite the massive spending, local establishment support carried Micah Lasher, the protege of retiring Congressman Jerry Nadler, to victory with 39.1% of the vote versus Bores' 35%. Other high-profile candidates like Jack Schlossberg (10.8%) and George Conway (7.1%) trailed far behind.

The race became a bellwether for AI regulation's influence in midterm politics. Bores outperformed expectations but couldn't overcome the backing of a Bloomberg-linked super PAC. The $27.41 million total spending—unusually high for a local primary—highlights how AI companies view regulatory battles as existential. Anthropic, a pro-regulation firm, saw Bores as pivotal to maintaining safety requirements, while OpenAI's anti-regulatory stance pushed it to fund opposition. Notably, Lasher had also co-sponsored the RAISE Act, meaning AI regulation wasn't the decisive voter issue. Instead, the race underscored that money alone cannot override local political dynamics, though the AI industry's willingness to spend at this level signals ongoing proxy wars ahead of the midterms.