141 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
141 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
|
|
aliases:
|
|
- "Public First Action Inc."
|
|
- "Public First"
|
|
- "Public First PAC"
|
|
tags:
|
|
- Organization
|
|
- SuperPAC
|
|
- AIPolicy
|
|
- Anthropic
|
|
- EffectiveAltruism
|
|
summary: "501(c)(4) given 40 million dollars by Anthropic in 2026, linked to the Public First super PAC funded by Anthropic staff, which passes money to committees backing Alex Bores and other candidates."
|
|
start: 2025-12
|
|
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
|
relations:
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Anthropic]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "20 million dollars"
|
|
start: 2026-02
|
|
fn: 3
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Anthropic]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "a further 20 million dollars, 40 million in all"
|
|
start: 2026-07
|
|
fn: 4
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Dario Amodei]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "1,000,000 dollars to the Public First super PAC"
|
|
start: 2026-05
|
|
fn: 2
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Peter Lofgren]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "999,900 dollars to the Public First super PAC"
|
|
start: 2026-06
|
|
fn: 2
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Shauna Kravec]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "500,000 dollars to the Public First super PAC"
|
|
start: 2026-06
|
|
fn: 2
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Michael Cohen (researcher)]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "500,000 dollars to the Public First super PAC"
|
|
start: 2026-01
|
|
fn: 2
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Jan Leike]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "400,000 dollars to the Public First super PAC"
|
|
start: 2026-06
|
|
fn: 2
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Kate Woolverton]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "250,000 dollars to the Public First super PAC"
|
|
start: 2026-06
|
|
fn: 2
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Nicholas Joseph]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "250,000 dollars to the Public First super PAC"
|
|
start: 2026-06
|
|
fn: 2
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Jobs and Democracy PAC]]"
|
|
role: "transfers from the Public First super PAC"
|
|
start: 2026-03
|
|
end: 2026-06
|
|
fn: 7
|
|
- type: funded
|
|
with: "[[Defending Our Values PAC]]"
|
|
role: "300,000 dollars from the Public First super PAC"
|
|
start: 2026-02
|
|
fn: 7
|
|
- type: contractor_to
|
|
with: "[[Bryson Gillette]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "vendor to the Public First super PAC and the Jobs and Democracy PAC"
|
|
fn: 7
|
|
- type: contractor_to
|
|
with: "[[Steptoe]]"
|
|
reverse: true
|
|
role: "legal services"
|
|
fn: 7
|
|
created: 2026-09-23
|
|
updated: 2026-09-23
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
Public First Action Inc. is a nonprofit political group in [[Washington, D.C.]], at 1930 18th Street NW, which, with a super PAC called Public First and two further political action committees, forms a group of committees spending on candidates in the 2026 elections.[^1][^2] On February 12, 2026, [[Anthropic]] announced that it was "contributing $20 million to Public First Action, a new bipartisan 501(c)(4) that will support public education about AI, promote safeguards, and ensure America leads the AI race." The organization, it wrote, was "founded and led both by Republican and Democratic strategists." Anthropic gave as the reason that "vast resources have flowed to political organizations that oppose these efforts," and listed among the policies the group would pursue "opposing preemption of state laws unless Congress enacts stronger safeguards" and "smart export controls on AI chips."[^3] On July 21, 2026, Anthropic announced "an additional $20 million to Public First Action, bringing our total support to $40 million," describing it as "a nonpartisan organization that educates the public about AI" and stating that both donations "cannot be used to influence the election of any candidate for federal, state, or local office."[^4]
|
|
|
|
Public First Action Inc. first filed with the [[Federal Election Commission]] on March 10, 2026, as a filer of electioneering communications, under identifier C30003586.[^1] No return for it appeared in ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer by September 2026.[^5]
|
|
|
|
### The Public First Super PAC
|
|
|
|
Public First (FEC identifier C00930503), an independent-expenditure-only committee registered on December 12, 2025, with [[M'liss Hadley]] as treasurer, lists the [[Defending Our Values PAC]] as an affiliated committee. It reported 3,910,450 dollars in contributions and 4,416,899.94 dollars in disbursements. Its itemized donors were ten:[^2]
|
|
|
|
- [[Dario Amodei]], chief executive of Anthropic, 1,000,000 dollars on May 4, 2026.
|
|
- Public First Action Inc., 1,000,000 dollars on February 24, 2026.
|
|
- [[Peter Lofgren]], member of technical staff at Anthropic, 999,900 dollars on June 8, 2026.
|
|
- [[Shauna Kravec]], member of technical staff at Anthropic, 500,000 dollars on June 11, 2026.
|
|
- [[Michael Cohen (researcher)|Michael Cohen]], a postdoctoral researcher at the [[University of California]], 500,000 dollars on January 8, 2026.
|
|
- [[Jan Leike]], member of technical staff at Anthropic, 400,000 dollars on June 8, 2026.
|
|
- [[Kate Woolverton]], software engineer at [[Google DeepMind]], 250,000 dollars on June 10, 2026.
|
|
- [[Nicholas Joseph]], member of technical staff at Anthropic, 250,000 dollars on June 10, 2026.
|
|
- [[Adam Jermyn]], research scientist at Anthropic, 5,000 dollars on June 22, 2026.
|
|
- [[Dillon Bowen]], member of technical staff at [[OpenAI]], 5,000 dollars on June 13, 2026.
|
|
|
|
Lofgren, Leike, Jermyn, Woolverton and Bowen also gave 5,000-dollar contributions to the political action committee of [[Americans for Responsible Innovation]].[^6]
|
|
|
|
The super PAC passed most of its money to the [[Jobs and Democracy PAC]], in transfers that included 500,000 dollars on March 4, 750,000 dollars on May 22, 150,000 dollars on May 26, 400,000 dollars on June 3 and 2,000,000 dollars on June 12, 2026, and gave 300,000 dollars to the Defending Our Values PAC on February 11, 2026. Its vendors included [[The Money Wheel]] for compliance and accounting, [[Bryson Gillette]], [[Minnow Co]] for communications and the law firm [[Steptoe]].[^7]
|
|
|
|
### Jobs and Democracy PAC
|
|
|
|
The Jobs and Democracy PAC (FEC identifier C00928374) reported 20,725,723.37 dollars in receipts, 19,714,370.04 dollars in disbursements and 17,859,226.24 dollars in independent expenditures, placed through Bryson Gillette.[^8] Its principal beneficiary was [[Alex Bores]], the New York Assembly member and sponsor of the state's [[RAISE Act]], in the Democratic primary for [[New York]]'s 12th congressional district: the FEC's aggregation by candidate shows 15,026,937.99 dollars spent supporting him, in 114 transactions.[^8] On February 20, 2026, *[[TechCrunch]]* reported that Public First Action was "spending $450,000 to boost Bores" in the race, where the super PAC [[Leading the Future]] "has already poured $1.1 million into ads attacking Bores."[^9] Leading the Future's contributions, 75.1 million dollars by July 2026, came from [[Andreessen Horowitz]], [[Greg Brockman]] of OpenAI and Anna Brockman, and [[Perplexity]].[^10] Think Big, a committee to which Leading the Future transferred 20 million dollars, spent 8,145,697.68 dollars opposing him.[^11]
|
|
|
|
The Jobs and Democracy PAC also reported expenditures supporting [[Valerie Foushee]] in [[North Carolina]], [[Brian Poindexter]] in [[Ohio]], [[Bob Brooks]] in [[Pennsylvania]] and [[Colin Allred]] in [[Texas]], and an expenditure opposing [[Jesse Jackson Jr.]] in [[Illinois]], whom Think Big supported.[^8][^11]
|
|
|
|
### Defending Our Values PAC
|
|
|
|
The Defending Our Values PAC (FEC identifier C00928390) reported 8,406,067.63 dollars in receipts, 7,430,648.98 dollars in disbursements and 7,064,884.59 dollars in independent expenditures. It supported [[Carlos De La Cruz Jr.]] and [[Alexandra Mealer]] in Texas, [[Celeste Maloy]] in [[Utah]], [[Rhett Marques]] in [[Alabama]], [[Kevin Hern]] in [[Oklahoma]], [[Scott Singer]] in [[Florida]], [[John Cowan]] in [[Georgia]] and [[Pete Ricketts]] in [[Nebraska]], and opposed [[Daniel Franzese]] in Florida and [[Briscoe Cain]] in Texas.[^8] Hern was also supported by American Mission, one of the two committees to which Leading the Future transferred most of its money.[^10][^11]
|
|
|
|
### Footnotes
|
|
|
|
[^1]: Federal Election Commission, committee C30003586, "Public First Action Inc.," retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C30003586/
|
|
[^2]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00930503, "Public First," statement of organization, financial totals and itemized receipts (Schedule A), retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00930503/ ; https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00930503
|
|
[^3]: Anthropic. "Anthropic is donating $20 million to Public First Action." February 12, 2026. https://www.anthropic.com/news/donate-public-first-action
|
|
[^4]: Anthropic. "Anthropic is donating another $20 million to Public First Action." July 21, 2026. https://www.anthropic.com/news/donation-public-first-action
|
|
[^5]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, search for "Public First Action," September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/search?q=%22Public+First+Action%22
|
|
[^6]: Federal Election Commission, itemized receipts (Schedule A) for committee C00893883, "Americans for Responsible Innovation Ltd. Political Action Committee," retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00893883
|
|
[^7]: Federal Election Commission, itemized disbursements (Schedule B) for committee C00930503, 22 records, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?committee_id=C00930503
|
|
[^8]: Federal Election Commission, committees C00928374 ("Jobs and Democracy PAC") and C00928390 ("Defending Our Values PAC"), financial totals and independent expenditures (Schedule E), including the by-candidate aggregation for Alex Bores, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/independent-expenditures/?committee_id=C00928374 ; https://www.fec.gov/data/independent-expenditures/?committee_id=C00928390
|
|
[^9]: Bellan, Rebecca. "Anthropic-funded group backs candidate attacked by rival AI super PAC." *TechCrunch,* February 20, 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/20/anthropic-funded-group-backs-candidate-attacked-by-rival-ai-super-pac/
|
|
[^10]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00916114, "Leading the Future," itemized receipts (Schedule A) and disbursements (Schedule B), retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00916114 ; https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?committee_id=C00916114
|
|
[^11]: Federal Election Commission, committees C00923417 ("Think Big") and C00916692 ("American Mission"), independent expenditures (Schedule E), including the by-candidate aggregation for Alex Bores, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/independent-expenditures/?committee_id=C00923417 ; https://www.fec.gov/data/independent-expenditures/?committee_id=C00916692
|