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AI super PACs pour nearly $1 million into Mike Rounds's Senate race

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AI super PACs pour nearly $1 million into Mike Rounds's Senate race

Super PACs and donors connected to AI labs and investors have poured close to $1 million into the South Dakota Senate race of incumbent Republican Mike Rounds, according to Wired, even though the race is not considered competitive. Around $600,000 of that has come from outside groups this cycle, with the vast majority routed through the super PAC Defend American Jobs, which itself receives funding from a super PAC financed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Separately, Rounds has received roughly $215,000 directly from employees and super PACs affiliated with AI labs, most notably Anthropic, as well as other tech companies including Google and Microsoft, according to FEC filings. Rounds has now raised more from tech-industry groups than from donors within South Dakota itself.

The spending arrives with fewer than 50 days left before the November midterms. Recent polling shows Rounds ahead of independent candidate Brian Beng, after Democratic candidate Julian Beaudion dropped out of the race last month. On Thursday, the super PAC Leading the Future, funded in part by OpenAI president Greg Brockman along with investors Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, announced it would direct $2 million toward a group of Senate Republicans seen as supportive of the AI or crypto industries; Rounds was on that list, though the source does not say how much of the $2 million is earmarked for him specifically.

Congressional aides told Wired that AI labs view Rounds as a top industry supporter whose backing could prove important in the next Congress, when AI regulation is expected to become a leading priority and the industry has found few reliable allies on Capitol Hill as lawmakers introduce a wave of bills responding to public anxiety over AI safety.

AI and data center policy is already a live issue in South Dakota. The state legislature passed a bill earlier this year forcing hyperscalers to shoulder a larger share of the water and energy costs of powering data centers, and separately voted down tax breaks for data center equipment and software purchases, a decision that stalled a planned development by data center builder Applied Digital. Rounds ultimately endorsed adding restrictions on data centers. His senior aide and former chief of staff, Robert Skjonsberg, is a registered lobbyist for Meta on matters before the South Dakota legislature, though Meta does not currently operate a data center in the state. Rounds's office told Politico that its general counsel checked with the Senate ethics committee about the arrangement and was told there was no conflict of interest. A spokesperson for Rounds did not respond to Wired's request for comment.

Opposition to data center buildout is not confined to South Dakota or to one party: a recent Gallup poll found that seven out of 10 Americans oppose data center development, citing the strain such facilities place on local water and energy resources.

Key facts

  • AI-lab and investor-linked super PACs have put close to $1 million into Mike Rounds's South Dakota Senate race, a contest not seen as competitive.
  • About $600,000 came from outside groups, mostly via the super PAC Defend American Jobs, which is funded by a super PAC financed by Andreessen Horowitz; roughly $215,000 more came directly from AI-lab employees and PACs, most notably Anthropic, per FEC filings.
  • The super PAC Leading the Future, backed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, pledged $2 million toward pro-AI/crypto Senate Republicans, including Rounds, in an announcement made on a Thursday.
  • South Dakota's legislature already forced hyperscalers to cover more of data centers' water and energy costs and blocked tax breaks for data center equipment, stalling an Applied Digital project; Rounds's aide Robert Skjonsberg is a registered Meta lobbyist in the state.
  • A recent Gallup poll found seven in 10 Americans oppose data center development over its water and energy demands.

Why it matters

The money is not about winning South Dakota, which Rounds was already favored to hold; it is about buying influence before Congress takes up AI regulation in earnest. Congressional aides told Wired that AI labs see reliable allies as scarce on Capitol Hill right now, with lawmakers introducing a wave of bills in response to public anxiety about AI safety. Backing an incumbent in a low-competition race is a cheap way to bank goodwill for the debates to come, including how aggressively to regulate AI and how the costs of data center buildout get shared.

Who it affects

Mike Rounds is the direct beneficiary, but the story implicates a wider set of players: Anthropic, Google and Microsoft as sources of direct employee and PAC money; Andreessen Horowitz as the ultimate funder behind Defend American Jobs; OpenAI's Greg Brockman, Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen as backers of Leading the Future's broader $2 million push across Senate Republicans; and, locally, South Dakota voters and legislators weighing who bears the water and energy costs of new data centers. Applied Digital's stalled project and Meta's lobbying tie to Rounds's own aide show the data center fight is already concrete, not hypothetical.

How to use it

FEC filings are the paper trail here: the roughly $215,000 in direct AI-lab-linked contributions to Rounds, like the outside spending routed through Defend American Jobs and Leading the Future, is a matter of public record and worth tracking as the midterms approach, since the $2 million Leading the Future pledge covers multiple candidates and its per-race breakdown is not yet public. Anyone following AI policy has reason to watch which other Senate races these same PACs enter next.

How solid is it

The reporting draws on FEC filings for the direct-contribution figures and on Politico for Rounds's office's account of its ethics-committee consultation, with the outside-spending and PAC-funding chain (Defend American Jobs to Andreessen Horowitz, Leading the Future to Brockman, Horowitz and Andreessen) stated plainly rather than hedged. Some specifics are missing from the source itself: no exact date for the Leading the Future announcement beyond 'Thursday,' no date for Beaudion's withdrawal beyond 'last month,' no breakdown of the $2 million by candidate, and no polling margin between Rounds and Beng beyond Rounds being 'ahead.'

Risks and caveats

The figures document spending, not proven causation: that Rounds took tech-industry money does not by itself establish that his stance on data center rules or future AI votes was purchased. The ethics question around Skjonsberg's dual role as Rounds's aide and a registered Meta lobbyist was reviewed and cleared by the Senate ethics committee, according to Rounds's office, but the arrangement itself remains unusual enough that Wired flagged it. The source also does not specify whether Anthropic as an organization contributed or only its employees and affiliated PACs, a distinction worth keeping straight.