All of a sudden, the AI industry is spending big on Rob Menendez

Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) may be the favorite for renomination in next month’s Democratic primary, but that’s not stopping an artificial intelligence industry group from spending big to make sure he wins.

Think Big, a super PAC that supports “Democratic candidates dedicated to advancing AI innovation in America,” reported a whopping $661,899 in expenditures this week supporting Menendez, a member of the powerful House committee that has some jurisdiction over AI policy. (The New Jersey Globe has not yet reviewed the ads themselves, and Think Big, which endorsed Menendez earlier this month, did not respond to a request for comment.)

The spending is a substantial escalation of the fight between Menendez and his primary foe, former Jersey City school board president Mussab Ali, which had seen only minimal outside spending up until now. Even Menendez himself had dismissed the need for independent expenditures in the race: “I don’t need any of the outside groups to beat Mussab,” he said in March. “I am going to beat him handily.”

Menendez is also running an ad in the 8th district that specifically names AI data centers as a leading cause of rising electricity bills. “High prices are no accident – it’s AI data centers, it’s CEOs not paying their fair share, it’s Trump’s illegal wars,” the congressman says in the ad.

Think Big is an arm of Leading the Future, which is in turn funded by AI industry leaders like OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The network of PACs has practically unlimited resources at its disposal; since its founding last August, Leading the Future has been seeded with $75 million by its small pool of ultra-wealthy donors.

That has allowed the PAC to spend enormous amounts in some of the country’s most hotly contested Democratic primaries. Think Big spent millions on two contentious Illinois primaries in March – one of its preferred candidates won while another lost – and it’s become deeply invested in sinking the candidacy of Alex Bores, a Democrat running for an open Manhattan House seat across the river from New Jersey.

Think Big has also, however, gotten involved in some primary fights that aren’t nearly as fraught. The PAC spent nearly $300,000 boosting Oregon Rep. Val Hoyle, who received 78% of the vote in her Democratic primary earlier this week, and is now spending hundreds of thousands supporting California Rep. Jimmy Panetta, who does not seem to face serious primary or general election competition.

The 8th district race could certainly be competitive on paper: Menendez faced a tough fight for renomination in 2024, and the district is home to downtown Jersey City, perhaps the most progressive corner of the entire state. But Menendez has also been successful at shoring up support from all corners of the district, including from reform-minded Democrats like Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Senator Andy Kim, and Ali has raised relatively little money to counter him.

Ali, though, said that Think Big’s spending is evidence that Menendez and his allies are nervous about their chances; he also pointed out that the PAC’s top donors, like Brockman and Marc Andreessen, have close ties to President Donald Trump’s political operation.

“This ad buy proves what we’ve known all along: when voters hear our message, they will choose change over the incumbent,” Ali said. “Now, Menendez is inviting MAGA-aligned dark money forces to bail him out… The people of NJ-08 deserve a representative who answers to them, not to billionaires, lobbyists, and corporate PACs.”

Menendez’s campaign manager, Ryan Eustace, said that the new ad campaign won’t change the congressman’s commitment to fighting the AI industry when necessary.

“Rob promised to take on powerful AI corporations and then did exactly that, leading legislation to hold them accountable and lower energy bills,” Eustace said. “Further, Mussab knows that Rob has no responsibility for what an independent expenditure does.”

While Think Big’s expenditures mark the first big influx of AI money into a New Jersey House race, a different set of PACs associated with the cryptocurrency industry have touched down in the 8th district several times before.

Menendez has benefited from around $500,000 in crypto-affiliated spending across his three campaigns for Congress, including around $65,000 so far this year. The mailers funded by the latest crypto campaign, though, have caused controversy because they feature an image of Assemblyman Ravi Bhalla (D-Hoboken), an old Menendez antagonist, without his permission.