In response to Leading the Future, two former congressmen — Republican Chris Stewart of Utah and Democrat Brad Carson of Oklahoma — have formed a competing political network, Public First, to back candidates who support AI regulation.
Public First Action, the umbrella organization for a trio of super PACs, is not required to disclose its donors. In June, the group said it had raised $80 million thus far. Anthropic has donated $40 million to the group.
Carson previously told Business Insider that he felt good about Public First’s odds, even if the group was likely to be outspent by Leading The Future. At the time, Public First Action aimed to raise $50 million.
“We have $50 million and 85% of public sentiment. They have 15% of public settlement, and $100 million,” Carson said. “I will take our side of that bet any day.”
Anthropic said it doubled its support, the AI startup had first donated $20 million in February, due to the rapid advancements in AI, including the development of its Claude Mythos model. Mythos is so advanced that, as of late July, it remains only accessible to a limited number of companies and organizations due to concerns about its hacking capabilities.
“Our donation to Public First Action is one way in which we’re trying to raise the salience of this urgent policy debate,” Anthropic said in its July donation announcement.
Anthropic has said its donations “cannot be used to influence the election of any candidate for federal, state, or local office,” but Public First Action’s allied super PACs engage in exactly those types of activities.
The group has two super PACs: one that supports candidates from both parties called Public First; one that supports Democrats, called Jobs and Democracy PAC, and another that supports Republicans, called Defending Our Values PAC.
Public First is the smallest of three super PACs, though it has attracted the support of the biggest name. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei donated $1 million to the group. Other Anthropic staffers have donated an additional $2.1 million.
Public First Action and Public First have donated over $19 million combined. The next largest donor is Jan Leike, who leads the Alignment Science team at Anthropic. Leike donated $100,000 and separately donated an additionall $400,000 to Public First.
Jobs and Democracy PAC has spent just under $20 million so far. The overwhelming majority of those funds, just over $15 million, was spent on boosting Bores during his unsuccessful primary campaign. The group has spent another $1.6 million on boosting Rep. Valerie Foushee of North Carolina, who survived a closely-watched Democratic primary.
Defending Our Values PAC has spent $5 million thus far. Like Jobs and Democracy, its largest supporters are also Public First Action and Public First, which combined have sent over $5.2 million to the group
Of those funds spent thus far, Republican Carlos De La Cruz has been the biggest beneficiary, with over $1.4 million spent thus far on pushing his election in a closely-watched US House race for a redrawn district in Texas. The group has spent another roughly $1 million to boost Rep. Celeste Maloy of Utah, who, due to redistricting, is running for reelection in a reconfigured district.
