From the front row to the hot seat — what the midterms mean for Big Tech

Right before the midterm elections, OpenAI hired Jessica Schumer, daughter of Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer. The company also said it would start calling its data centers “compute campuses.”

For the past two years, many of Silicon Valley’s biggest names have built closer ties with President Donald Trump and his administration. Several attended White House events, some companies scaled back diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and some executives donated millions to super PACs supporting his campaign and allied candidates. Administration policies also benefited the industry, including tax breaks, the pausing of some federal investigations, and looser AI regulation. Meanwhile, Meta faced lawsuits and billion-dollar fines, and OpenAI faced suits alleging its technology harmed users.

Now, with the midterms shifting the balance of power in Washington, those same companies are working to rebuild ties with Democrats, who have pledged to tighten oversight of AI. How far that gets them may depend less on image-polishing than on where the real fights are happening: in state capitols, in communities deciding whether to host data centers, and, as we’ve seen this past week, in the markets watching the AI boom.

J.B. Branch, director of federal AI governance and technology policy at Public Citizen, a nonprofit advocacy group that describes itself as nonpartisan, told me that the tech industry “realizes they have an optics problem.” He characterized moves like the Schumer hire and the rebranding as “PR washing.” He expects more of it, too, pointing to OpenAI’s partnership with the American Federation of Teachers, announced last year, as well as Anthropic’s newly launched Claude Corps and Meta’s America’s Workforce Academy. “I would imagine more of that sort of investment in these corporate, private-public partnerships,” he said.

These initiatives didn’t spring up overnight. Meta and other tech companies reportedly began looking for ways to strengthen their ties to Democrats as Democratic gains in the midterms looked more likely. Reached for comment about the midterm elections’ impact on Meta, a company spokesperson pointed TechCrunch to remarks that Meta President Dina Powell McCormick made this week at WSJ Tech. “You have to work with the government that the American people elect,” McCormick had said. “I have seen it across the board that you have to be bipartisan, and you want to be, because you want buy-in on the things that you’re trying to do.”

Not everyone expects them to work. Alice Marwick, director of research at the tech policy nonprofit Data & Society, told me she expects Big Tech to try to pivot back toward the middle, “if not the left. But it’s a little too late,” she said. “Tech companies should be asking themselves how their products can make people’s lives better, because right now, it doesn’t seem like they are.”

If Democrats follow through on pledges to tighten oversight of AI and Big Tech, the industry could face a tougher environment. Data center moratoriums are gaining traction, and a wave of AI regulation bills awaits drafting. At the same event, Powell McCormick said Meta wants to show that communities welcoming its investments will see “an enormous amount of benefit,” while those that don’t want them “will of course have the right to stop them.”

Still, the next two years could bring political gridlock in Washington. Aryan Ranjan, founder of Baraza, a political campaign management software company, told me most action will likely happen at the state level, since states have already sued tech companies and passed regulations. “A coalition built on newer, working-class voters is likely to push Democrats to frame AI around electricity bills, data-center siting and jobs rather than abstract AI safety,” he said of what to expect at the federal level.

Last December, the Trump administration signed an executive order creating the AI Litigation Task Force, a federal group meant to challenge state AI laws. The administration has argued that U.S. AI companies “must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulations.” Many states have nonetheless passed their own laws, including measures on chatbots and deepfakes.

It also remains to be seen how President Trump will respond, including whether he’ll sign more AI executive orders or veto bills that could be seen as anti-AI. Clearly, voters want stronger guardrails around the technology.

In a statement to TechCrunch, a White House official said: “American leadership in super intelligence is essential for our national security, economic prosperity, and the quality of life of the American people. President Trump is committed to ensuring America continues to lead the world in super intelligence while protecting American consumers. As the President has said, he’s willing to work with anyone to continue delivering victories for hardworking Americans.”

Branch argued that Trump’s political fortunes are now tied to the AI industry. On Wednesday, the day after the midterms, a trillion-dollar market sell-off spooked investors, some are whom are reportedly now reconsidering Anthropic’s reported trillion-dollar IPO. “There’s a very strong likelihood that there will be an AI bubble pop, and it’ll happen on Trump’s hands,” Branch said, predicting a possible market collapse. “Does he want to sink or swim along with the AI industry?”

For now, the rules companies face may vary by location. “For the next two years, a company’s AI rules may depend more on where it operates rather than on anything Washington passes,” Ranjan said.