Campaign records show tens of millions went to four Nevada LLCs that state officials could find no record of. Watchdogs call them shells; the PAC says it follows the law.
Super PACs in Leading the Future, the biggest pro-AI political network in the US midterms, have paid millions to four Nevada LLCs that seem to exist only as mailboxes or strip-mall addresses. One got around $20 million from Think Big; another got around $13 million from American Mission. Nevada officials could find no records for any of them.
The Campaign Legal Center says the setup hides who really did the network's polling, ads and strategy, and filed an FEC complaint in May. But the FEC hasn't had enough commissioners to rule on cases since May 2025.
The money is aimed at the Congress that will shape AI rules.
A company paid roughly $20 million to run polling, ads and strategy for a pro-AI super PAC appears to exist only as a post office box in a shopping center in Sparks, Nevada. It is one of four Nevada LLCs that have received money from groups in the Leading the Future network, the biggest pro-AI political operation in the US midterm elections.
Why does this matter if you don’t follow campaign finance? Because the AI industry is now spending heavily to pick the lawmakers who will write rules for chatbots, data centers and AI safety. Disclosure laws are supposed to let voters see who is doing that work. Election watchdogs say these LLCs hide it. Leading the Future says it has done nothing wrong.
Federal campaign finance filings show super PACs in the Leading the Future network sending tens of millions of dollars to Nevada companies with almost no public footprint. The two biggest payments went to:
Two more names appear in the filings. Blue Horizon Compliance Consultants lists a Staples store in Reno as its address, and Prusik Partners LLC lists a strip-mall unit in Henderson that it shares with a beauty salon and a chiropractor. When asked, Nevada’s secretary of state’s office said it could not locate any records for the businesses.
The services billed include polling, digital advertising, research and strategy. Those are normal campaign costs. What’s unusual is that the public cannot see which consultants or firms actually did the work.
Leading the Future is a super PAC network, also based in Nevada, that backs candidates who support what it calls an AI innovation policy agenda. It has raised over $140 million for the midterms, more than any other pro-AI group.
Its best-known funders are Silicon Valley figures, including billionaire investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, whose firm Andreessen Horowitz put in $50 million. OpenAI president Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna, pledged $50 million in total but gave only the first $25 million. In a June Slack message to staff that was later reported, Brockman said he had no plans to give more and that the group had become a distraction at OpenAI. OpenAI itself has said no outside political group speaks for the company.
The network plays both sides. Think Big mostly funds Democrats and American Mission mostly funds Republicans. That is one reason critics find the hidden vendors odd: political consultants usually work for one party, so a Democratic primary ad made by Republican strategists, for example, would be news if voters could see it.
In May, the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan election watchdog, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission. It alleges that Think Big and American Mission broke the Federal Election Campaign Act by not disclosing who actually received their money, and argues the LLCs are effectively part of the super PACs themselves.
The complaint is unlikely to be decided soon. The FEC has six commissioner seats, and it needs four commissioners to rule on a case. It hasn’t had that quorum since May 2025. In the meantime, payments to the Nevada companies have continued.
The watchdog’s lawyers have accused other campaigns of similar tactics. Earlier this year it filed a complaint against a Texas congressional candidate, alleging nearly all of his campaign’s spending passed through one firm that worked as a shell. Using shell vendors isn’t unique to AI politics, but the sums here are among the largest.
Leading the Future denies wrongdoing. Spokesperson Jesse Hunt said the network complies with all applicable laws, and he called the complaint a desperate bid for attention by Public First, Anthropic and groups aligned with them.
Public First is a rival super PAC focused on AI safeguards and transparency, with major backing from Anthropic leadership. Its spokesperson said the group had nothing to do with the complaint. The Campaign Legal Center also said it did not file at the direction of, or in consultation with, any outside group. Anthropic did not comment.
Critics have floated harmless reasons for using shell vendors too. A firm might simply not want to be publicly tied to a pro-AI campaign, given how unpopular AI and data centers have become with many voters.
For ordinary voters, the practical effect is that many AI-funded ads don’t look like AI ads. One review of 95 ads from four AI-aligned super PACs found only seven mentioned AI or an AI company, and none mentioned data centers. Groups aligned with OpenAI and Anthropic have spent tens of millions on congressional races, sometimes against each other.
That spending is aimed at the next Congress, which is expected to take up questions about AI regulation, safety audits and limits on data center construction. Whoever wins seats with this money will help decide how much oversight the AI tools you use every day get.
If you want to see who is behind a political ad, look for the “paid for by” line, then search the committee’s name in the FEC’s public database. In this case, that trail ends at a Nevada mailbox, and with no FEC quorum, it is likely to stay that way through Election Day.
It is a pro-AI super PAC network that funds Think Big for Democrats and American Mission for Republicans. It has raised more than $140 million for the 2026 midterms.
Not by itself. The Campaign Legal Center alleges these LLCs hid the real recipients, which would break disclosure rules. The PAC denies it, and the FEC has not ruled.
Major backers include Andreessen Horowitz, with $50 million, and Greg Brockman and his wife, who gave $25 million before dropping a second pledge.
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