# AI super PACs pour close to one million dollars into Mike Rounds’s Dakota Senate race

Digest AI · Policy & Regulation · published 2026-09-18T15:00:08Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/ai-super-pacs-pour-close-to-one-million-dollars-into-mike-roundss-dako

## Summary

Major super PACs linked to AI labs and investors have poured close to one million dollars into incumbent Republican Mike Rounds’s Senate campaign in South Dakota, according to FEC filings. Rounds has so far benefited from around $600,000 in spending by outside groups, most of it from the super PAC Defend American Jobs, which is funded by a super PAC financed by venture‑capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He has also received roughly $215,000 directly from employees and super PACs tied to AI labs, notably Anthropic, as well as contributions from Google and Microsoft.

A Thursday announcement from the Leading the Future super PAC – funded in part by OpenAI president Greg Brockman and investors Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreesen – said it would spend $2 million on a slate of Senate Republicans supportive of the AI or crypto industry, with Rounds on the list. The spending comes as South Dakota debates AI‑related data‑center regulation, and a Gallup poll shows seven out of ten Americans oppose new data‑center development.

## Key points

- AI‑linked super PACs contributed close to one million dollars to Mike Rounds’s Senate race.
- Rounds received about $600,000 from Defend American Jobs and roughly $215,000 from AI‑lab employees and super PACs including Anthropic, Google and Microsoft.
- Leading the Future super PAC announced a $2 million spend on Senate Republicans supportive of AI or crypto, including Rounds.

## Why it matters

The influx of AI‑sector money into a Senate race highlights how labs are mobilizing political influence to shape upcoming AI regulation and data‑center policy.

## Sources

1. [AI PACs Have Dumped Nearly $1 Million Into an Obscure Senate Race](https://wired.com/story/ai-pacs-have-dumped-nearly-1-million-into-an-obscure-senate-race) (Wired AI, 2026-09-18)

## Cite

Digest AI, "AI super PACs pour close to one million dollars into Mike Rounds’s Dakota Senate race", 18 September 2026, https://digestai.news/story/ai-super-pacs-pour-close-to-one-million-dollars-into-mike-roundss-dako

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