The $27 million Al proxy war over Alex Bores ends in a draw
Alex Bores (D-NY) enters his watch party at The Freehand Hotel after conceding the congressional race to Micah Lasher who will replace Rep Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in NY's 12th Congressional District on June 23, 2026 in New York City. | Photo by Laura Brett/Getty Images. The expensive, $27 million political proxy war between Anthropic and OpenAI came to a draw last night when Alex Bores, a New York state Assemblyman whose popularity surged after being targeted by a pro-AI super PAC,
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Two major AI companies spent a combined $27.41 million on competing super PACs in a New York congressional primary, making it an unusually expensive race for a local election. Anthropic-backed super PACs spent $19.26 million to support Alex Bores, a state assemblyman who had authored AI safety legislation, while OpenAI-funded super PACs spent $8.15 million against him. Bores narrowly lost the primary, coming in second with 35 percent to the winner's 39.1 percent, resulting in what the source describes as a draw in the proxy war between the two companies. The race drew national attention because it was seen as a bellwether for how AI regulation might fare in the broader midterm elections.
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