$27 Million AI Proxy War Over NY-12 Ends Without a Winner

On June 23, 2026, New York state Assemblyman Alex Bores lost the Democratic primary for New York's 12th Congressional District to Micah Lasher by a narrow margin. The race had drawn $27 million in spending and became a de facto proxy war between Anthropic and OpenAI, which backed opposing sides. Bores, a former tech industry employee who co-authored the RAISE Act imposing guardrails on frontier AI companies, saw his profile rise sharply after a pro-AI super PAC targeted him during the campaign. Lasher will take the seat previously held by Rep. Jerry Nadler.

What happened

Alex Bores, a New York state Assemblyman and former tech industry employee, lost the Democratic primary for NY-12 to Micah Lasher on June 23, 2026. The race was called a draw in terms of the broader AI industry fight: Anthropic and OpenAI had each lined up behind opposing candidates, and neither side walked away with a clean win.

Total spending in the primary reached $27 million, a remarkable figure for a district-level congressional race. Much of the attention centered on a pro-AI super PAC that targeted Bores, which according to reporting from The Verge actually increased his public profile rather than diminishing it.

Bores had co-authored and helped pass the RAISE Act, a piece of legislation that put safety requirements and guardrails on frontier AI companies. That record made him a target for AI industry money flowing into the race.

Why it matters

This race is a signal that AI companies are now willing to spend heavily on electoral politics, not just lobbying. When two of the most prominent AI labs end up on opposite sides of a single congressional primary, it shows how fragmented the industry’s interests have become around regulation.

The RAISE Act is the direct reason this seat attracted so much money. Frontier AI companies face real compliance costs under that kind of legislation, so backing a candidate who might weaken or block similar bills at the federal level is a straightforward business decision, not just ideology.

Bores losing means the seat goes to Lasher, whose position on AI regulation is what drew the opposing support in the first place. Whether Lasher continues in the direction Bores set with the RAISE Act, or moves differently, will be worth watching closely.

For business owners and operators tracking the regulatory environment around AI tools, this race is a preview of what federal AI policy fights may look like. If labs are spending at this level in a single primary, expect more of the same as federal AI legislation moves closer to votes.

Our take

The “draw” framing is accurate but slightly too tidy. Bores lost. The candidate who passed a major AI safety law is out. That is a concrete result, whatever the internal scorekeeping between Anthropic and OpenAI looks like.

What is genuinely notable here is that a state-level AI safety bill became the central issue in a $27 million congressional race. That did not happen two or three years ago. It means AI regulation is no longer a niche concern debated among policy wonks. It is now the kind of issue that moves real money into real elections.

For anyone running a business that depends on AI tools, ads infrastructure, or web platforms, the regulatory picture at the federal level is becoming harder to predict. Labs are spending to shape Congress before any major federal AI bill passes. The outcome in NY-12 did not resolve that fight. It extended it.

What to do about it

If your business relies on AI services from companies like Anthropic or OpenAI, now is a reasonable time to review your vendor contracts and understand what compliance obligations could look like if federal legislation similar to the RAISE Act passes. You do not need to act today, but knowing what guardrails the RAISE Act imposed at the state level gives you a working template for what federal rules might require.

• Read a plain-language summary of the RAISE Act to understand what “safety requirements on frontier AI companies” actually means in practice.
• Ask your AI vendors directly whether they are subject to any current state-level AI regulation and how they plan to handle expanding requirements.
• Watch how Micah Lasher positions himself on AI regulation once he takes the NY-12 seat. His stance will be an early indicator of where moderate Democrats land on federal AI bills.

The rules around AI are being written right now, and the people writing them are being chosen in races exactly like this one.

Source: The Verge · AI