How Midterm Results Impact AI Regulation

Midterm elections this week resulted in major wins for Democrats, positioning the party to take control of the House and Senate. Additionally, the party picked up multiple statewide positions, including a net positive of five Governors’ offices and five Attorneys General positions. How will these midterm results impact AI? A recent Mintz memo outlines Democrats’ AI priorities moving into the next Congress:

“Democrats are expected to pursue developer liability, building on Rep. Trahan’s CLAIM Act discussion draft, and to replace voluntary pledges with binding incident reporting, independent investigative boards, and shutdown authority. They generally favor a federal floor that preserves state laws, consistent with the States’ Right to Regulate AI Act (S. 3557), and will focus on workers, patients, and consumers, including algorithmic coverage denials. Oversight of the SIF, Executive Order 14434, the voluntary accord, and the frontier model review is likely.”

Of course, these election results don’t actually bring us closer to federal AI regulation. Congress and the White House don’t see eye to eye on a regulatory approach. This means that neither side is likely to make substantive inroads in their AI agendas. This will leave states continuing to dominate the regulatory field.

The White House previously outlined its vision for a national regulation that would preempt state AI laws. Unless that legislation can get passed before January, which is highly unlikely, Republicans will have to table these plans until at least 2029 or strike a deal across the aisle. The midterm results also showed pro-AI candidates underperforming, a lesson politicians are sure to take into 2028 elections.