Mamdani, AI industry flex political power in New York and what else to watch in Tuesday's primaries

By — Jesse Bedayn, Associated Press Jesse Bedayn, Associated Press By — Thomas Beaumont, Associated Press Thomas Beaumont, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/mamdani-ai-industry-flex-political-power-in-new-york-and-what-else-to-watch-in-tuesdays-primaries Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Mamdani, AI industry flex political power in New York and what else to watch in Tuesday's primaries Politics Jun 23, 2026 9:34 AM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Two opposing factions in the artificial intelligence industry square off in a Democratic primary for a U.S. House seat. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani tests his political clout by backing fellow democratic socialists. And President Donald Trump, after two of his chosen candidates for governor lost Republican primaries this month, ensured it won't happen again — by endorsing both candidates in a South Carolina runoff. Those are a few of the races to watch on Tuesday as voters head to the polls for primaries in Maryland, New York, South Carolina and Utah. Manhattan House primary is a bellwether for pro-AI regulation candidates The crowded Democratic primary became a proxy battle between two powerful camps of the artificial intelligence industry because of one candidate: New York Assemblyman Alex Bores. Bores, a former Palantir employee who cited ethical concerns in leaving the company, pushed one of the more sweeping state-level AI regulation bills in the country. Now, Bores points to that legislation — which faced some industry pushback — as a framework for how he'd approach regulation in Congress. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. So when he stepped into the race for the New York congressional district being vacated by retiring Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, a political group underwritten by investors in OpenAI spent more than $7 million on ads against Bores. Then an opposing wing of the industry, one more in favor of regulation, rode to Bores' aid. Political groups partly funded by Anthropic, which makes the chatbot Claude, spent more $10 million to boost Bores' candidacy. Anthropic was co-founded by former OpenAI employee, Dario Amodei, who left the company partly over concerns about AI safety. The election will offer some measure of the political might of the two AI industry factions. Mamdani flexes his political influence by endorsing progressive insurgents The New York City mayor endorsed Democratic primary candidates hailing from his own political camp — a progressive and two democratic socialists — who are challenging more established candidates, some backed by party leadership. U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, whose seat extends from lower Manhattan to a chunk of Brooklyn, is up against Mamdani-backed challenger Brad Lander, the former comptroller. A central contention between the two Jewish candidates is the war in Gaza, with L