Alex Bores
New York Assembly Democrat facing $2.2m in AI-industry PAC spending against him for supporting AI regulation.
Last refreshed: 23 April 2026
Can a $2.2m PAC campaign unseat a state legislator purely because he wants to regulate AI?
- Who is Alex Bores and why is the AI industry funding his opponent?
- Alex Bores is a Manhattan state assembly member who supports AI regulation. The Leading the Future super PAC has spent $2.2m against him in his 2026 primary because of his pro-regulation stance.Source: Lowdown ai-jobs-power-money coverage
- What is Leading the Future PAC targeting Alex Bores for?
- Leading the Future, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI's Greg Brockman, and Joe Lonsdale, targets Bores because he supports state-level AI algorithmic accountability legislation.Source: ai-jobs-power-money Update 6
- What AI regulation bills has Alex Bores supported in New York?
- Bores has backed algorithmic impact assessment requirements and AI transparency obligations in the New York Assembly, making him a primary target for AI-industry political spending.
Background
Alex Bores, a Democrat representing a Manhattan district in the New York State Assembly, became the first elected official to face a seven-figure AI-industry PAC campaign explicitly targeting his re-election because of his pro-regulation stance. The super PAC Leading the Future — backed by OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Andreessen Horowitz, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale — had raised more than $125m to defeat pro-regulation candidates in the 2026 midterms, and by April 2026 had directed $2.2m against Bores' primary campaign.
Bores was first elected to represent the 73rd District (Manhattan's Upper East Side and Upper West Side) and has been among the more visible proponents of AI regulation in the New York legislature. He has authored or co-sponsored state-level AI accountability bills including measures requiring algorithmic impact assessments and transparency obligations on automated decision systems, positioning him within the Democratic caucus as one of the clearest targets for industry opposition spending.
The Bores race is widely watched as a test case for whether AI-industry PAC money can unseat a sitting state legislator purely on the basis of their AI policy position. If Leading the Future's spending succeeds, it will likely accelerate the pattern of industry money entering down-ballot primaries to remove pro-regulation voices before they can influence federal legislation or set state-level precedents that other legislatures copy.