With millions of dollars sitting in AI super PAC accounts, the industry's influence in the midterms is on track to expand. Why it matters: AI groups have already become major players in congressional races, but the latest Federal Election Commission filings suggest that the biggest spending may lie ahead. - Candidates are not definitively winning or losing on the AI issue alone so far. But with millions of dollars still available, AI groups are positioned to push their priorities hard through November. By the numbers: Leading the Future — a pro AI-industry super PAC backed by tech execs and investors pushing rapid AI development and lighter regulation — closed out Q2 with $31.5 million after transferring $20 million to affiliated…
Sen. Jon Ossoff has built his 2026 reelection campaign around a simple pitch: he's the populist fighting a "coin-operated" political system rigged by the ultra-rich. Federal Election Commission records tell a different story. The Georgia Democrat has accepted nearly $400,000 from 39 billionaire donors since the start of 2025, not one of whom appears to […] The post Jon Ossoff rakes in nearly $400,000 from 39 out-of-state billionaires while railing against big money in politics appeared first on American Almanac .
Sen. Jon Ossoff has built his 2026 reelection campaign around a simple pitch: he's the populist fighting a "coin-operated" political system rigged by the ultra-rich. Federal Election Commission records tell a different story. The Georgia Democrat has accepted nearly $400,000 from 39 billionaire donors since the start of 2025, not one of whom appears to be from his home state. The gap between Ossoff's rhetoric and his fundraising is not a matter of interpretation. It is documented in his own FEC filings and in his own words. The Washington Free Beacon identified the 39 donors by cross-referencing Forbes billionaire listings with FEC contribution records for Ossoff's campaign committee. The names read like a directory of progressive…Open
Republican New York Rep. Mike Lawler and Democratic New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer urged four agencies to crack down on so-called election misinformation propagated by artificial intelligence (AI) tools, prompting pushback from First Amendment organizations. The lawmakers asked the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to monitor AI tools to prevent the spread of election misinformation in a letter Tuesday. The letter elicited warnings from First Amendment organizations who expressed their concerns about what it could mean for Americans’ constitutional rights to the Daily Caller News Foundation. …Open
Republican New York Rep. Mike Lawler and Democratic New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer urged four agencies to crack down on so-called election misinformation propagated by artificial intelligence (AI) tools, prompting pushback from First Amendment organizations. The lawmakers asked the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to monitor AI tools to prevent the spread of election misinformation in a letter Tuesday. The letter elicited warnings from First Amendment organizations who expressed their concerns about what it could mean for Americans’ constitutional rights to the Daily Caller News Foundation. …Open
The Senate GOP campaign arm won a major Supreme Court boost in the party's bid to hold congressional majorities on Tuesday. Why it matters: Republicans ' reliance on mega-donors and their cash-flush committees positions them to benefit more than Democrats from the ruling, which allows committees to spend unlimited sums in coordination with candidates as they push against headwinds in November. - GOP officials reacted with glee to the Tuesday ruling, deriding Democrats who have criticized the decision for giving more power to the wealthiest donors. - "The tool is available to both sides. It should be a bipartisan issue," the NRSC's political director, Brendan Jaspers, told stakeholders on a Tuesday call, adding that Democrats are just…
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that federal limits on political party-candidate spending coordination are unconstitutional. The ruling was 6-3, with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson in the dissent. The case, known as NRSC v. FEC, stems from a 2022 challenge to a provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act […]
The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down federal limits on how much political parties may spend in coordination with candidates, handing party committees a major win and reshaping campaign-finance rules ahead of the midterms. Why it matters: Freed from the caps, party committees can now spend without limit alongside their candidates — making them a far more powerful magnet for the big-dollar money that's flooded into super PACs over the past 15 years. Driving the news: In a 6–3 decision with a majority opinion by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court held that the coordinated party expenditure limits violate the First Amendment. - The decision overturns a 25-year-old precedent that had upheld the same limits. The intrigue: The…
The Supreme Court 's final week of the term is shaping up to be a blockbuster, with several remaining cases carrying major implications regarding the scope of President Trump 's power. The big picture: Three of the eight cases awaiting ruling hinge on what Trump — and future presidents — can or can't do in office, including determining who gets to be an American and what checks there are for a president's ability to fire federal officials. - Trump is no stranger to pushing the limits as commander in chief, and told "The Axios Show" last week that there are "no limits" to his power in office since going to war with Iran. - But federal courts have demarcated the limits to what a president can do, often to Trump's ire . Driving the…