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The biggest corporate donors shaping the 2026 midterm elections are no longer limited to Wall Street, oil companies or pharmaceutical giants.
Cryptocurrency firms, artificial intelligence companies and online betting operators have moved to the center of political spending, directing hundreds of millions of dollars toward campaigns as lawmakers weigh rules that could reshape their industries.
Corporate spending hits record levels this election cycle
Companies spent $517 million on House and Senate races over the 15 months leading up to the end of the first quarter of 2026, according to data compiled by the nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen and reported by Reuters — already surpassing the $461 million spent during the entire 2024 cycle and nearly triple the $184.1 million spent during the 2022 midterms.
Crypto, AI and online gambling companies alone accounted for at least $294 million of that total since January 2025, more than half of all corporate political spending tracked this cycle.
“The scale of corporate spending in this election cycle is unlike anything we’ve seen previously,” said Rick Claypool, Public Citizen’s research director.
For companies in these fast-growing sectors, the election is a chance to shape regulation before it hardens. Crypto firms want clearer digital asset rules, AI companies are seeking a say in emerging technology policy, and online casino, sports betting operators, and sweepstakes casinos are working to fend off tighter gambling regulations in state legislatures nationwide.
Crypto’s PAC strategy spreads to AI, betting firms
Much of this spending follows a playbook the crypto industry pioneered in 2024: rather than aligning with one party, companies back candidates from both sides of the aisle who favor friendly regulation, while working to defeat those who don’t.
Donations increasingly flow through a layered structure of super PACs, smaller affiliate PACs and dark money nonprofits that don’t have to disclose their donors — all legally barred from coordinating directly with campaigns, so they spend instead on advertising, turnout operations and campaign events.
Crypto’s Fairshake, backed by Coinbase, Ripple and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, remains the model other industries are copying. It entered 2026 with roughly $193 million on hand and still has about $130 million left to spend before Election Day. Its highest-profile win came in Ohio in 2024, when it helped Republican Bernie Moreno unseat crypto critic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is now running for the state’s other Senate seat.
Artificial intelligence has become the fastest-growing sector in spending, led by the AI-focused super PAC Leading the Future, which has raised about $140 million this cycle with backing from OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and Andreessen Horowitz.
Anthropic has taken a different tack, funding political education efforts rather than candidates directly. But heavy AI and crypto spending hasn’t guaranteed results: in Illinois’ March primaries, AI- and crypto-backed PACs poured nearly $20 million into Democratic races and lost more often than they won, according to The Associated Press.
Betting firms become the cycle’s third-biggest spender
Sports betting operators are following the same template as the industry faces mounting regulatory pressure in statehouses nationwide. DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and UK-based bet365 have together contributed more than $72 million this cycle — making online betting the third-largest source of corporate election spending, behind crypto and AI, according to Public Citizen’s tracking.
Much of that money flows through two affiliate PACs, American Conservative Fund and American Future, both targeting state races in jurisdictions where sports betting faces the toughest regulatory scrutiny. Unlike crypto’s more centralized approach through Fairshake, betting operators have spread their spending across a wider network of state-level fights, reflecting an industry whose biggest battles are playing out in statehouses rather than in Washington.
State lawmakers in several jurisdictions have moved to raise sports betting tax rates and tighten advertising and consumer-protection rules this year, giving operators added incentive to shape who sits in those legislatures.
Separately, prediction market Polymarket donated $1 million in June through its corporate parent, Blockratize Inc., to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican-aligned super PAC backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson — an early sign that prediction markets, which occupy a regulatory gray area between betting and financial trading, are also looking to build political relationships ahead of anticipated federal scrutiny.
Technology executives are adding personal wealth to the mix as well. SpaceX founder Elon Musk has spent more than $90 million on federal election efforts, while Google co-founder Sergey Brin has spent more than $106 million on political issues, including opposition to a proposed wealth tax in California.
Not everyone is comfortable with the trend. Critics argue that concentrated spending from a handful of fast-growing industries risks dominating political debate at the expense of everyday concerns. Claypool warned that heavy corporate spending leaves less room to discuss the issues voters say matter most, with Congress devoting outsized attention to narrow regulatory fights over crypto, AI and gambling while voters focus on the cost of groceries.
Polling suggests a majority of Americans already believe there is too much money in politics — a sentiment some candidates are turning into a campaign message. Progressive Senate hopefuls, including James Talarico in Texas and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, have built parts of their campaigns around the argument that wealthy donors and corporations wield too much influence in Washington.
Supporters of the new spending push back, arguing it simply gives fast-growing industries the same political voice long enjoyed by finance, pharmaceutical and energy companies. Whichever view prevails, the money shows no sign of slowing: roughly a third of all corporate political spending logged since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling has already gone out this cycle, and Election Day is still months away.
