Last night’s elections are estimated to be the most expensive midterms in U.S. history, and they ended in a massive blue wave with Democrats taking control of both the House and Senate.
That’s bad news for the crypto and AI industries, which spent a fortune backing candidates who ended up losing.
Crypto and AI companies poured hundreds of millions of dollars into this year’s elections in an effort to elect candidates friendly to their industries. While some of those bets paid off, many of their biggest ones didn’t.
Crypto- and AI-focused super PACs spent $112 million supporting and opposing candidates in the general election alone, according to Tech Influence Watch. As of Wednesday morning, $74.7 million of that spending had gone toward losing candidates or efforts to defeat winning candidates.
The losses came despite an influx of money from Silicon Valley into this year’s elections. Overall, crypto and AI companies and employees contributed more than $506 million to political committees this election cycle, according to Tech Influence Watch’s estimates. Meanwhile, industry-focused PACs spent nearly $250 million on federal elections, including primaries.
More specifically, AI-focused super PACs spent $72.3 million on this year’s elections, including nearly $28 million from groups pushing for fewer AI regulations, according to Transformer’s AI Campaign Finance Tracker. Tech Influence Watch puts that figure closer to $79 million.
Additionally, the crypto industry’s three largest super PACs, including Fairshake, spent roughly $170 million on congressional races, CoinDesk reported. Fairshake and its affiliates accounted for $154 million of that spending, a spokesperson told CoinDesk.
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