Anthropic-backed AI group puts $3.5 million behind Scott Wiener’s House run
Public First Action's latest spending brings its support for the California state senator past $3.5 million in the race for Nancy Pelosi's old seat
An AI policy group funded by Anthropic has spent $3 million backing Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener in his campaign to succeed Nancy Pelosi in Congress.
The money trail
The group is Public First Action, an AI policy nonprofit that launched this election cycle. Anthropic is its primary funder, and it pushes for stronger AI regulation.
According to the research findings, Public First Action committed the additional $3 million as of October 13, 2026.
Earlier in the cycle, the group directed $500,000 to a super PAC supporting Wiener’s bid. With the new tranche, its total commitment to his candidacy now tops $3.5 million.
The seat in question belonged to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Wiener is considered the leading candidate to take it over.
Why Anthropic likes Wiener
His first major swing was SB 1047, a California AI safety bill that was vetoed in 2024. It became one of the most fought-over tech bills of that year.
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He came back with SB 53, which passed in 2025. The law requires frontier AI developers, meaning the companies building the most powerful models, to follow reporting and transparency measures.
Anthropic endorsed SB 53 in September 2025, putting it on the record as a supporter of exactly the kind of oversight Wiener champions.
The catch for Wiener
Wiener faces criticism from primary challenger Supervisor Connie Chan over his connections to the AI industry. Former allies of Pelosi have raised similar concerns about whether a candidate this closely tied to AI interests can be trusted to regulate them.
A broader push by AI safety money
Wiener’s race is not an isolated case. Anthropic employees and associated donors have been putting significant money behind multiple pro-regulation candidates across several contests this cycle.
What this means
For Anthropic, the bet is strategic rather than sentimental. Getting the author of SB 1047 and SB 53 into Congress would put one of the country’s most experienced state-level AI regulators in a position to shape federal policy.
For Democrats, the episode highlights a question the party has not fully settled. Is AI money acceptable if it is pushing for regulation, or does the source matter more than the stated goal?
What to watch: whether Public First Action keeps adding to its tally, how Chan and Pelosi’s allies sharpen their industry-ties critique, and whether rival tech groups start spending against pro-regulation candidates in response.