The new kingmakers: Crypto, AI and betting money reshapes the 2026 US midterms

Volunteers gather outside the Hunterdon County Democratic Committee headquarters as they prepare to knock on voters' doors, ahead of the November midterm elections, in Flemington, New Jersey, U.S., August 9, 2026. | Photo Credit: NATHAN LAYNE

N A handful of billionaires and companies are driving corporate spending in U.S. midterm elections this year, and they aren’t the usual power brokers who have sat atop the political food chain in Washington in previous decades. Crypto ​companies, artificial intelligence firms and online betting have emerged as the biggest industries shaping the 2026 midterm races, driving a record amount of business spending on congressional contests, according to campaign finance watchdogs and interviews with more than a dozen political strategists from both parties.

The new money surging into U.S. politics ‌comes from a fresh class of billionaires hailing from industries that barely existed a generation ago, occupying territory traditionally held by Wall Street, along with the pharmaceutical, oil and media industries, strategists from both parties ​say.

As lawmakers across the country press for more scrutiny and regulation of these industries, their founders are deploying their newfound wealth to win allies, shape rules and push back on those efforts. U.S. companies have spent an unprecedented $517 million ⁠on the 2026 U.S. House and Senate races in the 15 months through the end of the first quarter, exceeding the record $461 million in corporate spending over two years for the 2024 elections, data compiled by corporate accountability nonprofit group Public Citizen shows. And that's before the blitz of campaign spending expected in the closing stretch of the November 3 elections, when Democrats hope to wrest control of both the House and Senate.