South Dakota’s Senate race is not close, yet groups tied to AI companies have spent close to $1M on it anyway. FEC filings reviewed by Wired trace the money to incumbent Republican Mike Rounds.
Outside groups account for about $600,000 of that, led by Defend American Jobs, a super PAC financed by a fund tied to Andreessen Horowitz. Another roughly $215,000 arrived directly from employees and PACs connected to AI labs, most visibly Anthropic, plus Google and Microsoft.
Rounds has now drawn more from technology donors than from anyone inside his own state. Congressional aides say AI executives see him as a reliable ally in a chamber where allies have grown scarce as lawmakers respond to public anxiety about the technology.
One seat is not the whole target. Another $2M is headed for Senate Republicans friendly to AI and crypto, according to an announcement Thursday. Leading the Future carries that money, backed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman along with Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen. Rounds made its list.
Local politics revolve around data centers. South Dakota’s legislature required hyperscalers to carry more of the water and energy costs behind their facilities, and earlier rejected tax breaks Applied Digital needed, stalling a planned build. Rounds came around to supporting new restrictions. His former chief of staff, Robert Skjonsberg, is registered to lobby for Meta before the legislature; Rounds’ office says the Senate ethics committee found no conflict.
Fewer than 50 days remain before the midterms, and Rounds leads independent Brian Beng after the Democratic candidate withdrew. A Gallup poll found seven in ten Americans opposed to data center development.
