Florida’s Big Tech Brawler Finally Meets the Voters; Politico, October 31, 2026

ANDREW ATTERBURY, Politico; Florida’s Big Tech Brawler Finally Meets the Voters

"Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier telegraphed what was coming before even saying a word. At his podium, just like his former boss, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, had done so many times, he taped a red, white and blue sign that read: “Stop big tech surveillance.”

Taking swipes at tech titans is a common theme for the Sunshine State’s top legal official. Just the day before, at a press conference in Tampa, Uthmeier had attached a poster to a podium blasting OpenAI for its use of chatbots...

As Congress punts on regulating AI and tech titans openly fret about its existential threat, Florida stands out as an example for those who hope to decelerate the frantic growth of AI. There’s a reason for that. Last year, after Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody departed for the Senate, DeSantis installed a key player to score points for the governor’s tech agenda: Uthmeier, his former chief of staff. Through a combination of subpoenas, lawsuits and constant public pressure, Uthmeier has aggressively positioned Florida’s most powerful legal office into a new front in the battle over artificial intelligence and the tech companies behind it."

Lancaster County library tax referendum faces Republican opposition at the ballot box; Lancaster Online, October 30, 2026

 TOM LISI | Staff Writer, Lancaster Online; Lancaster County library tax referendum faces Republican opposition at the ballot box

"When local library leaders launched a ballot initiative this year asking Lancaster County voters to back a property tax to fund libraries, they framed it as a nonpartisan endeavor separate from the party politics that generally dominate local, state and national elections.

But the referendum, which will appear on every county voter’s ballot Tuesday, has animated partisans.

Lancaster County Republicans have mounted an enthusiastic campaign against the measure, which, if approved, would create a .55-mill property tax to fund operations at libraries across the county.

One mill equals $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed property value. For a property assessed at $329,000 — the median single-family property value in Lancaster County following the 2027 reassessment — the proposed tax would cost $180.95."

AI data center boom faces backlash at US ballot box; Reuters, October 29, 2026

 Courtney Rozen, Reuters ; AI data center boom faces backlash at US ballot box

"Voters in ​10 US states will decide on Election Day whether to curb data center development in their communities, as the ‌rapid buildout needed to power the AI boom stirs local opposition.

Resistance is especially visible in Ohio, one of the country's fastest-growing data center markets. No state has more data center-related ballot measures, with voters in more than a dozen jurisdictions set to consider 21 proposals alongside Tuesday's midterm elections, according to the ​nonpartisan research group Ballotpedia."

AI Billionaires Are Flooding Money Into Politics to Influence Elections, But It’s Backfiring; Futurism, October 24, 2026

 Frank Landymore, Futurism ; AI Billionaires Are Flooding Money Into Politics to Influence Elections, But It’s Backfiring

Even a whiff of AI money seems to disgust voters.

"Unreasonably wealthy AI plutocrats are pouring billions of dollars into US elections. 

Elon Musk alone has pumped more than $445 million into Republican campaigns ahead of the midterms, after spending a near-equal sum to get president Donald Trump elected in the last election cycle. Leading The Future, a Super PAC backed by OpenAI and Palantir cofounders and prominent tech venture capitalists including Marc Andreessen, has amassed $140 million to dole out to pro-AI candidates.

But all that money doesn’t seem to be helping the AI industry’s interests, because its image is still in the toilet.

A new analysis from Guardrails Action, an AI accountability advocacy group, found that voters in key battleground states still harbor mostly negative feelings towards the AI industry, with the tech being such a toxic topic that it’s potentially driving voters to cross the aisle."

Deciding with fake images: More candidates are using AI in political ads to get your vote; NBC NEWS, October 23, 2026

Anagilmara Vílchez, NBC; Deciding with fake images: More candidates are using AI in political ads to get your vote

At least 220 ads — mostly Republican — generated or enhanced with artificial intelligence have circulated in the lead-up to the midterms, at a cost of almost $137 million.

"Evette is not the only one whose image was manipulated in the lead-up to the midterm elections. The Wesleyan Media Project, a group of experts that tracks political propaganda in campaigns, identified at least 220 ads produced or enhanced with artificial intelligence by candidates or political action committees this election cycle. They cost just under $137 million.

It’s a significant leap in the use of this technology compared to 2024, when the investment in AI was less than $50,000 during the presidential election. As of May of this year, the money spent on these AI ads was already $20 million."

What Hundreds of Focus Groups With Trump Voters Revealed; The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times, October 23, 2026

Ezra Klein

Produced by Annie Galvin and Jack McCordick

, The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times; What Hundreds of Focus Groups With Trump Voters Revealed

[Ezra Klein] "What changes in politics — or what have you watched change in politics — as it has become more, in your language here, vibe oriented?

[Sarah Longwell] "I think it’s the big difference between news seekers and news receivers.

We used to live in a world where you spent time with the news, and it was a specific time. You sat down at the breakfast table, and you read a newspaper. You watched the evening news. You made time for the news.

I just think that the news receiver means: I didn’t sit down to find something out. Information just washed over me, and there was no mechanism to verify it. I didn’t really sit and spend time with it and ask: Is this true? Does it even matter to me? It just hit me for a second.

It just flashes over them. So they wake up with an opinion without any idea of how it was formed."

As Trump pushes for data centers, voters in key midterm races say they don’t want them; NBC News, September 6, 2026

Jonathan Allen, Frank Thorp V and Marshall Crook, NBC News; As Trump pushes for data centers, voters in key midterm races say they don’t want them

An NBC News Decision Desk Poll found that 69% of respondents oppose building AI data centers in their areas, with 45% saying they “strongly oppose” the idea.

"Dawn Vogel, a Republican county supervisor in rural Buchanan County, Iowa, doesn’t have a lot in common with the leading democratic socialists in Congress. But on this bit of policy they agree: Data centers are proliferating across the American landscape too fast.

Vogel voted earlier this year for a moratorium that temporarily bans data centers from setting up shop in her heavily Republican county, which favored President Donald Trump 63% to 35% in 2024. In Washington, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. — the nation’s two most prominent democratic socialists — have proposed a similar moratorium that would cover the entire country.

“I don’t think this is a Republican or Democratic issue,” Vogel said on the sidelines of the Iowa State Association of Counties’ annual conference here in late August, adding that she hasn’t talked to a single voter at home who wants data centers."

Voters Aren’t Waiting for November to Try Ousting Officials Over Data Centers; The New York Times, August 19, 2026

 David McCabe, The New York Times ; Voters Aren’t Waiting for November to Try Ousting Officials Over Data Centers

As a backlash grows over data centers, more local officials are facing recall elections for their support of the computing sites.

"Some local officials have already lost their jobs in the face of data center concerns in regularly scheduled elections. Last year, two members of the Georgia Public Service Commission lost their seats amid concern about data centers’ driving up electricity prices. A Virginia state delegate, Geary Higgins, also lost his job last year after his opponent branded him “Data Center Geary.”

“People are standing up and saying, ‘Sorry, we don’t want these data centers in our communities for a number of reasons,’” Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, said in an interview. “‘If you can’t have the guts to stand up to some large corporation, you should not continue serving in office.’”

Voters have little patience for politicians supporting data centers, said Amy Kremer, the chairwoman of Humans First, a conservative-leaning group promoting greater A.I. regulation. They will “step up and recall them and hold them accountable."

The AI backlash is only getting started; The Economist, June 25, 2026

 The Economist; The AI backlash is only getting started

"Advances in artificial intelligence have long terrified techies. Lately, voters are feeling the angst, too. ai is unpopular in the West and climbing up the political agenda. The fiercest fights so far have been in America, where protests against data centres have scuppered nearly $100bn-worth of projects, warring ai megadonors have just dumped tens of millions into a Manhattan congressional race and around 40% of voters tell pollsters that they want ai banned from most industries. But spats are breaking out elsewhere: after chipmaking profits soared recently, workers at Samsung in South Korea threatened a strike to secure special payouts."

Poll: The midterms' new big players are pushing agendas that voters don’t fully support; Politico, May 3, 2026

 ERIN DOHERTY,  JASPER GOODMAN, JESSICA PIPER,  DANIEL BARNES and BRENDAN BORDELON, Politico ; Poll: The midterms' new big players are pushing agendas that voters don’t fully support

"Deep-pocketed political groups tied to artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency are rapidly reshaping the midterm money landscape — but many Americans are uneasy with the industries behind the spending.

New results from The POLITICO Poll find broad public skepticism about crypto and AI, creating a possible conflict for candidates benefitting from an influx of contributions from the two industries. These groups are pouring millions of dollars into competitive 2026 races to elevate politicians who they believe will support their agendas in Washington.

Meanwhile, Americans have been slow to embrace either technology.

A 45 percent plurality of Americans say investing in cryptocurrency is not worth the risk, even if it can yield high returns, and a 44 percent plurality say AI is developing too quickly, according to the April survey conducted by independent firm Public First.

Nearly half of Americans say they trust a traditional bank with their money more than a cryptocurrency platform, while just 17 percent say the opposite. And two-thirds support lawmakers either imposing strict regulations or setting broad principles for the AI industry."

Backed by Anthropic, a Super PAC Group Begins an Ad Blitz in Support of A.I. Regulation; The New York Times, February 23, 2026

 Cecilia Kang, The New York Times ; Backed by Anthropic, a Super PAC Group Begins an Ad Blitz in Support of A.I. Regulation

The ads by Public First Action, which started airing on Monday, are part of an escalating political war over artificial intelligence before the midterm elections.

"A new ad campaign on Monday warned northern New Jersey residents that Congress could leave them vulnerable to harm by artificial intelligence.

The ad, which opens with photos of A.I.-generated women smiling on social media alongside A.I.-generated headlines, urged voters to tell their House representative to vote against a bill that would block states from creating protections against A.I. scams.

“He can make sure A.I. serves us, not the other way around,” the ad said of Josh Gottheimer, the Democratic co-chair of the House’s new A.I. commission, which is expected to heavily influence legislation on the topic. “New Jersey families come before Big Tech’s bottom line.”

The $300,000 ad campaign was paid for by Public First Action, a super PAC operation backed by the A.I. start-up Anthropic. Focused on New Jersey, the campaign is likely to run several weeks — part of several similar initiatives by the group nationally."

Michigan Library Association launches petition to protect right to read; WKAR, July 28, 2025

Ed Coury , WKAR; Michigan Library Association launches petition to protect right to read

"The Patmos Library, located in the small western Michigan town, faced backlash over its inclusion of LGBTQ+-related material. Voters chose to withhold public funding for the library in 2022, effectively defunding it. Community members later raised nearly $100,000 to keep the library operational.

The association’s petition drive is supported by a statewide Epic-MRA poll conducted in June. Commissioned by the Michigan Library Association, the poll found that nearly 80% of voters approve of the work being done by libraries in the state, and 75% trust librarians to make decisions about which books should be available.

The Michigan Library Association says it hopes the petition will send a clear message to lawmakers about the value residents place on intellectual freedom and access to information."

If Trump cuts funding to NPR and PBS, rural America will pay a devastating price; The Guardian, June 6, 2024

Margaret Sullivan , The Guardian; If Trump cuts funding to NPR and PBS, rural America will pay a devastating price

"With the sharp decline of the local newspaper business over the past 20 years, many parts of America have turned into what experts refer to as “news deserts”. These are places that have almost no sources of credible local reporting.

As local newspapers have shuttered or withered – at a rate of more than two every week – news deserts have grown. The effects are sobering. People who live in news deserts become more polarized in their political views and less engaged in their communities.

One of the foundations of democracy itself – truth – begins to disappear. People turn to social media for information and lies flow freely with nothing to serve as a reality check.

Right now, many small and rural communities that are on the brink of becoming news deserts do still have access to public media – particularly to National Public Radio’s network of member radio stations, which employ dedicated local reporters.

But the Trump administration’s new effort targeting public radio and television is a serious threat...

Voters – especially those in rural areas, small towns and red states – should let their elected representatives know that they need public radio and television to continue. That public media may even be their lifeline."

A torrent of Election Day disinformation is coming. Here’s how to avoid falling for it.; Politico, November 5, 2024

 JOHN SAKELLARIADIS, Politico; A torrent of Election Day disinformation is coming. Here’s how to avoid falling for it.

"Haitian immigrants did not vote multiple times for Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia, and poll workers in Pennsylvania did not destroy ballots for Trump, though a pair of videos that went viral in the last 10 days would have you think otherwise.

Both were fabrications of Kremlin influence actors, the U.S. intelligence community has said, and late Monday, it released a new statement calling out “additional influence operations” from Russia...

America’s adversaries “likely learned lessons” from the political turmoil that engulfed the U.S. after Election Day in 2020, senior U.S. intelligence officials told reporters last month. That means Russia, China and Iran are likely to amp up their efforts to spread lies and even incite violence between Election Day and inauguration.

One key defense is to refer any pressing questions to your local officials. “The bottom line when it comes to mis- and disinformation is that voters need to go to the source, and the source is your local and your state election officials,” said Marci Andino, the senior director of the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center."

A deepfake showed MLK Jr. backing Trump. His daughter calls it ‘vile.’; The Washington Post, November 4, 2024

 Pranshu Verma, The Washington Post; A deepfake showed MLK Jr. backing Trump. His daughter calls it ‘vile.’

"The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter Bernice on Monday condemned an artificially generated video of the Civil Rights leader praising former president Donald Trump, as both parties court Black voters ahead of Election Day.

The video, posted Sunday night on the social network X by a pro-Trump account called MAGA Resource, falsely depicted King urging Black people to vote for Trump, claiming he did “more for the Black community than any other president.” By late Monday it had garnered over 10 million views...

During the 2024 election, AI-generated misinformation has repeatedly gone viral, drawing attention from regulators and observers watching for the effect AI may have on the democratic process. AI experts are unsure how much impact this content has had on changing people’s opinions of the candidates or their choices at the ballot box.

In March, the BBC unearthed dozens of AI-generated false images portraying Black people supporting Trump. X owner Elon Musk, who supports Trump, in July targeted Biden’s replacement in the race, sharing on X an AI-generated audio deepfake of Vice President Kamala Harris falsely celebrating the president’s decision to drop out. The clip was viewed over 100 million times."