Pro-technology PACs are targeting New York Assemblymember Alex Bores in the Democratic primary, tying him to Sam Bankman-Fried’s discredited 2022 donor network.
The attacks are part of a broader AI industry effort to defeat candidates seen as hostile to the sector.
Why Big Tech Is Coming for Bores
Think Big PAC, an affiliate of Leading the Future, an AI industry-backed super PAC network, has reportedly distributed printed campaign materials to voters in New York’s 12th congressional district.
The materials allege that Bores’ campaign has received support from associates of Bankman-Fried, the former FTX founder convicted of fraud and money laundering in 2023.
Think Big PAC’s involvement marks the latest escalation in a sustained campaign against Bores. It previously ran ads targeting Bores based on his past employment at the data analytics firm Palantir. Notably, one of the group’s own backers co-founded Palantir.
Bores sent the group a cease-and-desist letter regarding those earlier ads, alleging that they contained false and defamatory statements.
The tactic is a calculated one in a deep-blue Manhattan district, where tying a candidate to a convicted fraudster carries obvious political risk.
Nationally, the race is seen as a test of how aggressively Big Tech will target supporters of AI regulation.
What prompted the attacks, however, is Bores’ legislative record on AI. His RAISE Act, signed into law last year, requires AI companies to conduct safety checks on their models and publicly disclose results.
That record made him a natural first target for Leading the Future, the AI industry-backed Super PAC orchestrating the campaign.
AI Uses Crypto’s Playbook
Leading the Future announced last November that Bores would be its first target. The group’s backers include OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Andreessen Horowitz, and $70 million in the bank, according to Politico.
Its leadership has said it would run whatever campaign proved most effective. The Bankman-Fried attack is the latest expression of that approach.
The strategy mirrors one the crypto industry deployed successfully in 2024, when Fairshake, a cryptocurrency-focused Super PAC, spent heavily against digital asset skeptics. That effort is credited with costing Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown his seat after more than three decades in federal office. Leading the Future shares operational leadership with that same PAC.
Bankman-Fried was among the country’s largest political donors in the 2022 cycle, spreading money across candidates aligned with light-touch tech regulation. Several figures now active in the AI industry’s political push operated in overlapping donor circles during that period.
The use of Bankman-Fried’s name as an attack line comes in that context. Leading the Future has made clear its sights extend beyond NY-12, with state legislators nationwide watching closely.
