AI bursts to the front of Massachusetts Democratic Senate primary

Artificial intelligence has rocketed to the front of next Tuesday’s Massachusetts Senate Democratic primary, as Rep. Seth Moulton tries to unseat Bay State political titan Sen. Ed Markey.

Moulton, a six-term House member, has capitalized on a fumbling answer from Markey during a recent debate where the senator said he did not know whether he used AI on his personal electronic devices. Moulton said Markey’s answer is “why we need a new generation of leaders” and has turned the answer into advertising.

But Markey, who is seeking a third full term in the Senate and has represented Massachusetts in Congress for nearly half a century, has the backing of one of AI’s most crucial players: Anthropic. Federal Election Commission filings show the Anthropic-backed nonprofit Public First Action, which operates several political action committees, donated $500,000 to Commonwealth Together, a PAC that supports Markey.

Anthony Rivera-Rodriguez, a spokesperson for Public First Action, said it is supporting Markey because he “has been unequivocal in his support for regulating AI.”

“In Congress he helped lead the 99 to 1 vote that stripped a moratorium on state AI regulation out of reconciliation. He has worked to beat back every version of preemption that has come back since, and he wrote legislation to stop the administration from stripping states of their regulatory authority,” Rivera-Rodriguez said.

The fight over AI and its associated data center infrastructure has spilled into election-after-election this year, and the companies behind AI have emerged as some of this election’s biggest spenders. Corporate money has poured into both sides of the Massachusetts primary, with Advance Progress, a PAC supportive of Moulton, bankrolled by major financial players like former Bain Capital co-chair Josh Bekenstein.

Public First Action supports more guardrails around AI development, and its PACs have backed candidates across the country. Anthropic has donated $20 million to the group. Another AI PAC, Leading the Future, backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, has also spent heavily on candidates across the country. That group has not spent in Massachusetts yet.

Markey, a longtime progressive, and Moulton, who has carved out a moderate stance in Congress, are both calling for new guardrails on AI. Moulton has called for “[f]ederal AI regulations” while ensuring AI companies remain on U.S. shores. Markey has introduced what he calls the AI Accountability Agenda, which he says would ensure AI serves “the public interest, not pad Big Tech’s profits.”

Moulton, 47, has sought to shape the race around a message of generational change. Markey, 80, has touted his progressive bona fides in the battle and endorsements from major figures like Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Recent polling shows Markey ahead of Moulton by a wide margin. A University of New Hampshire poll on Tuesday showed Markey ahead of Moulton by 35 percentage points. The senator led by 63% to Moulton’s 28%.

Markey has a history of defeating Democratic challengers. He handily defeated former Rep. Joe Kennedy III, a Kennedy family scion, in 2020.