Breaking

AI Industry PACs Spend ~$30M as Rep. Bores Loses NY Primary

July 3, 2026 at 09:01 EDT

Policy & Regulation

In the Democratic primary for New York's 12th congressional district (NY-12), state Assembly member Alex Bores, known as the lead sponsor of the AI safety law "RAISE Act," was defeated, with roughly $30 million in spending by AI-industry-linked super PACs reported to have influenced the outcome. The winner was fellow state Assembly member Micah Lasher, who was competing to succeed the retiring Rep. Jerrold Nadler; according to Ballotpedia's tally, Lasher took about 52.6% (7,410 votes) to defeat Bores.

June 2026 · NY-12 Democratic Primary

AI Safety Champion Loses NY Primary Amid a $30M Proxy War

Alex Bores — lead sponsor of the RAISE Act, one of the strongest state AI safety laws — was defeated by Micah Lasher as rival AI factions poured outside money into a single House race.

~$30M

total outside spending pouring into one primary race

52.6%

for winner Micah Lasher (7,410 votes)

84%

of NY residents support the RAISE Act

Two AI Camps, One Race

Outside spending in the Bores race — measured on the same scale.

$8.15M

Leading the Future

Deregulation · opposing Bores

$19.26M

Public First Action et al.

Pro-regulation · supporting Bores

Not a simple "AI vs. anti-AI" fight — the Anthropic-linked, pro-regulation side actually spent more than twice as much as the deregulation camp, yet Bores still lost.

Why Bores became the target

His RAISE Act made him the "first target" of a ~$100M deregulation super PAC.

Signed into law Dec 19, 2025 — frontier AI developers must file safety plans and report incidents.

Ads attacked his 2014–2019 Palantir past; Bores says he left refusing ICE-related work, and sent a cease-and-desist over false claims.

The optimist's read

Even in defeat, the campaign raised AI regulation's national profile — "the industry may have won the battle but lost the war."

The cautionary read

Money on both sides muddies the story, and AI regulation is now set to become a bigger issue into the November general election.

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