Crypto companies, artificial intelligence firms, and online betting have emerged as the biggest industries shaping the 2026 midterm races, driving a record amount of business spending on congressional contests, according to campaign finance watchdogs and interviews with more than a dozen political strategists from both parties.
The new money surging into US politics comes from a fresh class of billionaires hailing from industries that barely existed a generation ago, occupying territory traditionally held by Wall Street, along with the pharmaceutical, oil, and media industries, strategists from both parties say. Together, crypto, tech, and online gaming industry donations accounted for at least $294 million of the corporate spending on midterm races from January 1, 2025 through the first quarter, according to watchdog group Public Citizen. In an approach pioneered by the crypto industry in the last election cycle, these industries have structured their campaign giving through a vast network of super PACs, affiliate PACs, and dark money nonprofits that do not have to disclose their donors. Companies and founders often donate across those networks as well as directly to specific candidates. The groups can take unlimited sums but cannot give directly to or coordinate with candidates. Instead, they pay for advertising, organize voter drives, and sponsor campaign rallies. Executives running these companies have directly spent millions more, including more than $90 million SpaceX founder Elon Musk has already put toward the 2026 federal elections. Counting all political spending, including donations from billionaires, labor groups, and social causes, a record $11.6 billion is expected to be spent on political ads for the midterms, breaking the previous 2023-2024 cycle record of $11.2 billion, according to political advertising research firm AdImpact.Crypto's playbook was pioneered in 2024, when companies Coinbase and Ripple, along with investor Andreessen Horowitz, spent heavily through their Fairshake super PAC to help unseat longtime Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown from his Ohio Senate seat. The strategy proved so effective that Public Citizen described Fairshake as a corporate "Death Star" capable of overwhelming individual candidates.
The AI industry now appears to be replicating that model. Andreessen Horowitz co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz launched Leading the Future, a super PAC focused on ensuring US leadership in AI development, backed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, and venture capitalist Ron Conway, among others, with a war chest exceeding $100 million.
Fairshake and its affiliated crypto groups have meanwhile built a combined $263 million fund ahead of the midterms, according to Bloomberg, with contributions from Coinbase and Andreessen Horowitz continuing to grow the pool.
