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The record $11.9 billion spent on this year’s midterms included hundreds of millions from industries hoping to shape policy-making in 2027.
Thanks to the 2010 Citizens United ruling, individuals and corporations can donate unlimited sums to committees, like super PACs, that try to influence election outcomes. The cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and pro-Israel industries were some of the biggest power players in this year’s elections – but their spending didn’t consistently pay off.
Crypto was the top outside spender, but lost in its biggest race
Crypto interests put more money into outside spending than any other industry in the 2026 cycle, spending more than $169 million through outside groups, plus more than $9 million in candidate contributions. The bulk of the money – $154 million – flowed through a super PAC network.
The network is funded by a super PAC called Fairshake, whose top donations include $48 million from Ripple and $33 million from Coinbase – two major crypto companies. Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm that’s one of the largest investors in the crypto industry, has given over $47 million to Fairshake.
Although Fairshake was the committee at the center of the crypto spending arrangement, the biggest spender was Defend American Jobs, a Fairshake affiliate that supports Republican candidates. It spent over $104 million, while Protect Progress, the Democratic arm of Fairshake, spent more than $30 million.
Of the 10 races where Fairshake spent the most money, the industry targeted five Senate and five House candidates who have expressed explicitly anti- or pro-crypto stances, according to the Stand with Crypto Alliance, a nonprofit that tracks the crypto-related statements and actions of policymakers.
Its favored candidate won in six of those, the costliest of which was the Senate race in Nebraska, where Defend American Jobs spent more than $13 million to oppose independent candidate Dan Osborn. His opponent, Sen. Pete Ricketts (R), has shown support for crypto from his position on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
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Crypto spent the most in Ohio’s Senate race – $24 million against Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown and $40 million to support incumbent Jon Husted (R), who has voted for crypto-friendly legislation. Brown won by nearly 5 points in one of the most-watched Senate races of the midterms.
Pro-Israel groups failed to swing Michigan race despite spending $30 million
Since it began making political contributions in the 2022 election cycle, AIPAC has become one of the biggest – and most polarizing – donors in U.S. elections.
The group’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, spent over $70 million this election cycle. Several other pro-Israel committees, such as the J Street Action Fund and Democratic Majority for Israel, also spent millions in the midterms.
The most high-profile and expensive race the pro-Israel industry funded was the Senate race in Michigan. After its favored candidate, Haley Stevens, lost in the Democratic primary, it continued spending in opposition to Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and began supporting Republican nominee Mike Rogers.
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UDP spent over $35 million in that race, but El-Sayed won by 7 points.
No other race drew that kind of attention from UDP. The super PAC spent $5.7 million to support Adrian Boafo (D), who won a House seat in Maryland, and $5 million backing Melissa Conyears-Ervin (D), who lost in a primary in Illinois. No other candidate drew more than $3.5M in UDP spending.
Kentucky’s 4th District was the race in which pro-Israel groups spent the most for a successful candidate. The industry spent $3.9 million to oppose incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie in the primary. Massie lost to Ed Gallrein, who ultimately won in the general election.
AI industry notched several wins even as data centers became a liability
The AI industry emerged as the newest political power player this year, not only through its executives’ ties to the White House but also through several industry-backed PACs.
The majority of the industry’s donations came from OpenAI and Andreessen Horowitz, which funded the Leading the Future PAC and its affiliates – the Republican-aligned Build American AI and American Mission and the Democratic-aligned Think Big PAC.
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In addition to industry-specific super PACs, millions of dollars in AI-linked money also went to ideological super PACs. OpenAI president Greg Brockman and his wife Anna Brockman gave $25 million to the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc., which spent over $380 million supporting Republican candidates.
The AI industry directed most of its political spending to primary elections – most notably in New York’s 12th District, where Alex Bores (D), who ran on a platform of AI regulation, lost to Micah Lasher. Lasher won the seat on Nov 3. He was not directly backed by AI, however, and has said he would advance regulation of the industry.
Among general election candidates, the majority of Leading the Future’s spending went to Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.). Graham, who was appointed this year to replace her late brother, lost by 5 points to Annie Andrews (D), who called for a two-year data center moratorium.
Despite notching wins in several of the House races it targeted, the AI industry has lost favor with voters over the past several months. Even in races where the industry wasn’t directly involved, candidates elevated AI issues. In Ohio, for example, Brown ran ads attacking Husted over his support for data centers, and in Michigan, El-Sayed made AI and data center regulation a key part of his platform.
