{"id":495318,"date":"2026-10-14T02:40:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T02:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/495318\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T02:40:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T02:40:49","slug":"ai-funded-group-backs-wiener-for-congress-with-3-million-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/495318\/","title":{"rendered":"AI-funded group backs Wiener for Congress with $3 million gift"},"content":{"rendered":"

Public First Action, an advocacy group substantially funded by Anthropic, has reportedly put another $3 million to back Sen. Scott Wiener in his race to succeed Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi in Congress, according to D.C.-based political news outlet Punchbowl News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That gift could be more than the entire amount going towards rival Connie Chan\u2019s campaign \u2014 not counting the independent expenditures \u2014 so far. The next campaign finance filings deadline is this Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI audibly gasped when I saw that amount,\u201d said political consultant Nadia Rahman, who supports Chan. \u201cIt signals that they are really doubling down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Public First Action gift went to a pro-Wiener independent expenditure committee, Abundant Future, which had already received $500,000 from Public First Action earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Mission Local could not independently verify the contribution. Punchbowl News cited sources close to the matter. Neither Abundant Future nor Anthropic denied it when Mission Local reached out for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Public First Action is heavily funded by San Francisco-based AI firm Anthropic, which has given the group $40 million, according to Anthropic<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anthropic spokesperson Danielle Cohen said the AI giant\u2019s donations to Public First Action were made \u201cexclusively\u201d to support the group\u2019s public education and policy mission, however, and \u201ccannot be used to influence<\/a> the election of any candidate for federal, state, or local office.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $3 million from Public First Action could further unbalance the fundraising gap between Wiener and Supervisor Connie Chan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chan\u2019s campaign had less than $1 million cash on hand as of Oct. 13, according to spokesperson Ian Krager. It has five full-time paid staffers and no paid canvassers, only volunteers.<\/p>\n

Wiener has received significant sums from those who support his regulatory approach to AI \u2014 he was behind one of the country\u2019s first AI safety bills.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chan supporters claim that Wiener \u201cwatered down\u201d that legislation after failing to pass a stricter one that was opposed by politicos including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Chan endorser Pelosi. \u201cHe worked with Anthropic to make it weaker, and that\u2019s how he got it passed,\u201d said pro-Chan consultant Jim Stearns.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes,\u201d he added, \u201cbig donations like this backfire because for the last two months, there\u2019s been an ongoing TV ad battle as to whether Scott is good on AI or bad on AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public First Action<\/a> says it advocates for \u201cAI policies that put people first \u2014 protecting families and workers, preserving democratic accountability, and ensuring the United States remains secure and competitive in a changing world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dan Newman, who runs the Abundant Future Super PAC that received the money, did not comment on the contribution but shared three videos<\/a> that he said the PAC has created using some of the $3 million. None of the three videos is about AI \u2014 two attack Chan\u2019s record, and one promotes Wiener.<\/p>\n

Wiener\u2019s campaign declined to comment on the $3 million but emphasized Wiener\u2019s record on AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cScott Wiener was in the trenches fighting Big Tech for years to get the nation\u2019s first AI safety law passed. He has a track record of success delivering big and important laws that benefit San Francisco and California,\u201d spokesperson Joe Arellano said. \u201cConnie Chan has never done anything about AI except put out social media videos once she decided to run for Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chan\u2019s campaign took the opportunity to undermine Wiener\u2019s record.<\/p>\n

\u201cScott Wiener\u2019s claim that he\u2019ll stand up to Big AI collapses the moment you look at who\u2019s bankrolling his bid for Congress,\u201d said Chan\u2019s spokesperson Krager. \u201cAfter putting $500,000 behind him earlier this year, Anthropic\u2019s super PAC is pouring in another $3 million to send him to Washington. Wiener is delusional if he thinks voters will mistake Big AI\u2019s handpicked candidate for its watchdog.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Public First Action, an advocacy group substantially funded by Anthropic, has reportedly put another $3 million to back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2007,19534,7917,170932,8670,35072,101,103,102,1621,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-495318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-ai","tag-anthropic","tag-campaign-finance","tag-congress-race-2026","tag-connie-chan","tag-election-2026","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-scott-wiener","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}