Voters in Maryland, New York, South Carolina, and Utah are heading to the polls for primaries on Tuesday. In New York, a crowded Democratic primary has become a proxy battle between two powerful camps of the artificial intelligence industry. New York Assemblyman Alex Bores, a former Palantir employee, is running for a U.S. House seat and has pushed for sweeping state-level AI regulation bills.
AI Industry Factions
Bores’ candidacy has been supported by political groups partly funded by Anthropic, which makes the chatbot Claude. Anthropic was co-founded by former OpenAI employee Dario Amodei, who left the company over concerns about AI safety. On the other hand, a political group underwritten by investors in OpenAI has spent over $7 million on ads against Bores.
In another development, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is endorsing progressive insurgents in the Democratic primaries. Mamdani has backed candidates who are challenging more established candidates, including U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman and U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat.
Trump’s Endorsement
President Donald Trump has endorsed both candidates in the South Carolina Republican runoff for governor. Trump initially supported Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette but later added an endorsement for state Attorney General Alan Wilson. This move is seen as an attempt to ensure an ironclad victory for his endorsement after his chosen candidates lost Republican primaries in Georgia and Iowa.
In Utah, the Democratic primary has drawn attention due to redistricting, which has created a lone Democratic island centered on Salt Lake City. The primary candidates are jostling for who’s farther to the left, with former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams trying to cast off his reputation as a moderate.
In Maryland, Republicans are seeking a successor to former Governor Larry Hogan. The primary has a field of nine candidates, including Dan Cox, an attorney who lost his gubernatorial bid four years ago, and Ed Hale, the owner of the Baltimore Blast soccer team.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.