Democrats think cracking down on AI could give them an edge

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Democrats could win back control of Congress this November, and if they do, they’ll need to decide how to approach one of the country’s newest and thorniest political issues: AI.
Democrats think cracking down on AI could give them an edge
At a moment when voters are fearful of AI, Democrats are finding their footing.
Polls predict Democrats will flip at least one chamber of Congress in the midterm elections, which would put committee leadership back in their hands. That could usher in a wave of newfound scrutiny for AI companies. Top Democrats on key committees have already signaled their willingness to press the industry on tax credits tied to data centers and recent hacking incidents, and would be able to set committee agendas if they take over, allowing them to call CEOs to testify in Congress and demand documents that explain companies’ inner workings.
AI issues are already taking a leading role in campaign ads, particularly as data center development has driven residents across the political spectrum to packed local meetings. While President Donald Trump has opposed most regulation of the technology in favor of an accelerationist approach, public opinion polling has shown that Americans have widespread concerns about how AI will impact jobs, education, and other aspects of life. The direction and intensity of that oversight, though, is up for grabs.
The issue of AI is “a hundred percent ready for the taking,” says Jesse Lehrich, a Democratic strategist who previously ran a tech accountability advocacy group and worked for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. “The question remains open as to whether Democrats are willing and able to seize that opportunity.” AI issues currently include a lot of different things, from monitoring and restricting the development of frontier models to dealing with the effects of job displacement or data centers’ energy demands. Across both parties, lawmakers are still figuring out where to put their stakes in the ground, and early congressional proposals have yet to gain broad consensus.
“The question remains open as to whether Democrats are willing and able to seize that opportunity”
AI caught many lawmakers off guard, says Rob Flaherty, former deputy campaign manager for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign and a Biden White House alum who cohosts a podcast with Lehrich. “For a long time, Democrats were afraid to talk about it, either for a mix of not understanding it, or being afraid of the money that was going to be poured in by the AI industry,” Flaherty says. But as AI becomes more salient for voters, “there will be immense profit to whoever can speak to the world that we’re moving into at a volume that voters can hear and can feel.”
Flaherty recently launched a super PAC called Tomorrow Together with Karthik Ganapathy, a former state communications director for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. The group launched its first $4 million ad blitz last week in battleground House races, attacking Republican candidates as out of touch on AI and referencing issues like kids’ online safety and data centers. The group is looking beyond the midterms toward the 2028 presidential election, aiming to hone Democrats’ messaging to double down on what resonates most with voters.
While data centers have been the most visible AI issue in many communities, Flaherty says his group’s polling found sweeping bans on state AI regulation — repeatedly pushed by Trump and congressional Republicans — are even more broadly unpopular. Democratic donor and venture capitalist Ron Conway now regrets funding Marc Andreessen-backed pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future, Jay Carney, a former Obama press secretary who now runs communications for Conway’s VC fund, told Politico.
As of June, LTF spent nearly $45 million over almost a year, with $31 million left in the pot according to Federal Election Commission filings. “At a certain point, voters speak louder than money,” Flaherty says. Even governors who lean toward the center of the Democratic Party, like California’s Gavin Newsom or Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, have taken bolder stances against AI in recent weeks. Newsom issued an executive order looking to create an AI “kill switch” after previously vetoing a bill that would have instituted some similar measures, and Shapiro reversed course against data centers.
Democrats are well positioned to capitalize on the negative sentiment toward AI
Democrats are well positioned to capitalize on the negative sentiment toward AI because Trump’s largely anti-regulation stance has boxed in his party. Though some Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), have carved out a more skeptical approach to AI, Lehrich says, “I cannot think of a bigger political gift than Donald Trump just wholly bear-hugging the industry and declaring that we must let data reign and any community that rejects data centers is backwards and poor.”
A more sweeping AI regulatory agenda might include embedding independent researchers into frontier labs, requiring more safety checks up front, and imposing more liability on tech companies for anything from how their tools affect kids to whether they’re used to discriminate against workers or housing applicants. Lawmakers could also consider ways to meet demands from constituents that AI companies help pay for job displacement and other impacts they’ll have on people’s lives.
“I cannot think of a bigger political gift than Donald Trump just wholly bear-hugging the industry”
AI is still not the top issue driving voters to the polls, but Flaherty says that’s not necessarily the right way to think about it. “AI is not an issue as much as it is a story,” he says. “It’s a story of politicians getting bought off by industry. It’s a story of a bunch of guys making you foot the bill for them getting rich while they’re coming to make your life worse. It is a story that fits the national vibe.”
Where exactly different policy lines should be drawn on AI is still somewhat unsettled. But Flaherty warns that Democrats risk giving up ground if they fail to take big enough swings. Voters are “giving politicians a lot of leeway to take big swings and to really reimagine stuff,” he says. If politicians only stick to basics like plans to retrain workers at community colleges, “I think we’re going to miss the bigness and the ingenuity that the moment calls for.”

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