Build American AI targets swing states with data-centre advertising
Build American AI, a group affiliated with the pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future (LTF), plans a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign promoting data centres in Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin. The campaign is intended to persuade voters in states where concerns about data-centre development have become a central issue in statewide elections.
LTF is financed by a network that includes venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, as well as OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman. Bloomberg reported that Build American AI will focus its advertising on the three battleground states, while the group has described its budget as millions of dollars.
A political campaign around AI infrastructure
The initiative places data-centre construction directly within the midterm political agenda. Build American AI is presenting facilities as beneficial to communities, at a time when the local effects of large-scale infrastructure are receiving heightened electoral attention.
LTF launched with more than $50 million in funding. Politico reported that it has largely deployed that money through donations to particular politicians. The super PAC supports candidates who advocate for AI and also works against candidates who lobby against the technology, sources told Politico.
The campaign reflects a wider contest over how AI infrastructure and policy are framed to voters. For companies involved in data-centre projects, public messaging is becoming part of the operating environment alongside the technical and commercial requirements of a deployment.
Funding, affiliations and public distance
OpenAI publicly distanced itself from LTF in a June blog post. The company said that LTF had received support from Brockman and his wife, Anna, but that OpenAI does not direct LTF’s activities or have visibility into its operations.
OpenAI also criticised advocacy methods that conceal who is behind a campaign. It said groups advocating on AI should state their policy views clearly, be honest about whom they represent, and avoid astroturfing, a tactic that makes a paid and organised campaign appear to be grassroots support.
LTF is not the only super PAC backed by prominent Silicon Valley figures pursuing an AI-related agenda. Anthropic supports Public First Action, a group that backs AI regulation. Andreessen Horowitz is also supporting pro-crypto efforts, particularly through the crypto super PAC Fairshake.
What the spending signals
The New York Times has described Andreessen and Horowitz as spending on politics at an exceptional scale. By its calculations, Andreessen Horowitz is the largest donor to the midterm elections so far, ahead of donors including Elon Musk and George Soros. The firm has made more than $115 million in disclosed federal contributions.
For businesses planning AI infrastructure, the immediate implication is practical: project plans should account for local political scrutiny and stakeholder communication, because data-centre development is now being contested in electoral campaigns as well as in commercial planning.