Democrats eye Big Tech after midterm wins

Democrats are making commitments to make artificial intelligence regulation and the investigation of companies a key priority as they prepare to take control of the House and Senate after Tuesday night’s election sweep.

Shortly after news broke that Democrats secured a House majority , Democratic Rep. Greg Casar (Texas) said his party “must make it a top priority to protect Americans’ jobs, freedom and lives from AI billionaires.”

“AI company CEOs should be called to testify under oath,” he continued. “Congress should investigate how these companies are putting the jobs, freedom, and lives of Americans at risk. And we should pass bills to protect people.”

The scrutiny from Democrats was largely expected given the lack of AI safety regulations and the industry’s working relationship with President Trump.

Casar pointed to the election spending by tech executives, writing, “Voters rejected Republicans in part because they were bought and paid for by AI billionaires. Democrats must hold them accountable instead of cashing their checks.”

In the upper chamber, Sen. Ed Markey (Mass.) wrote in a post online that Big Tech executives are “going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing.”

AI industry spending contributed to candidates on both sides of the aisle, though the shift of the typical left-leaning Silicon Valley the past two years made a lasting impression on Americans’ perceptions of these firms.

In a recent Politico poll , Americans were more likely to assume the executives heading up the largest tech firms are Republican, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who clashed with the Trump administration on AI safety earlier this year.

Several Democrats on Tuesday hinted at increased pressure on the tech firms before taking control of Congress.

Last month, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Chris Van Hollen (Md.) released a 27-page report of a nearly yearlong probe into how the data centers powering AI could raise costs for consumers.