a16z, the biggest funder behind the U.S. midterm elections

By Theodore Schleifer, The New York Times

Compiled by Luffy, Forsight News

The biggest benefactor of this round of U.S. midterm elections is neither Elon Musk, George Soros, nor any other billionaire with the deepest pockets in politics.

The real top spot goes to a venture capital firm: Andreessen Horowitz (abbreviated as a16z).

Top donors for this midterm election cycle; data source: Federal Election Commission, The New York Times

An analysis by The New York Times shows that this Silicon Valley venture capital firm, together with its founding partners Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, has already contributed more than $115 million in political donations to events related to the midterms—making it the largest known donor for this election cycle.

a16z’s involvement in politics is nothing new. The two founders themselves are longtime political donors worth billions. But the scale of donations this cycle is far beyond the roughly $63 million from the 2024 election cycle. This top investment institution is ramping up political spending with unprecedented intensity, seeking to shape policy directions and align them with its own commercial interests.

After the last election, a16z set out a posture of taking part in politics long term. By convention, the day after a major election (two years before the next major election) is not the time for big-ticket giving. Yet on November 6, 2024, a16z injected more than $23 million in a single push into two major super PACs focused on the cryptocurrency industry, sending a clear signal: its political playbook is a long-term strategy, not a short-term bandwagon move.

In response to requests for media interviews, a16z refused to comment and did not arrange interviews with the two founders.

A few days later, Andreessen said bluntly in an election recap podcast, “My conclusion is that we must treat participating in politics as a permanent mission.” “Sometimes the moment calls for riding the current, and sometimes it’s necessary to fight with everything we’ve got. But whether the situation is favorable or unfavorable, we have to be deeply involved end to end.”

Venture capital firms making large political donations also reflects a major shift in the ecosystem of U.S. politics. In this midterm election, the main force among top donors has moved from individual billionaire figures to institutional entities like a16z. Critics argue that when institutions throw huge sums into the political arena, they may steer the election process—only to pursue their own private business interests.

Since the 2024 election, a16z has put $47.5 million into the Fairshake network of crypto super PACs. Its strategy has also long moved beyond the crypto space: following the Fairshake model, it spearheaded the creation of a super PAC called Leading the Future, focused on supporting pro–artificial intelligence legislators, and invested $50 million. Both Fairshake and Leading the Future adopt a “win-win across parties” approach, funding candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

In addition, a16z and the two founders combined donated $12 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC affiliated with Trump, including a single $6 million donation in March. That same month, a trust associated with Andreessen also donated nearly $900,000 to the Republican National Committee.

A series of political investments has also helped Marc Andreessen and Trump’s administration build close networks.

A chart showing a sharp surge in the scale of public political donations by Andreessen and Horowitz indicates: political giving by a16z and the founders rose from $2 million in 2022 to $115.5 million in 2026. The funds mainly flow to artificial intelligence issues, the Republican camp, and the crypto industry.

Source: Federal Election Commission, The New York Times

Before Trump began his second term last year, Andreessen disclosed that half of his time is spent at Mar-a-Lago, assisting Trump’s team with the transition of power. The venture capital figure also offered advice to Elon Musk’s government efficiency department in an informal advisory capacity. Two former a16z partners have taken high-level roles in the government; one of them handles matters related to AI regulation.

In March this year, 54-year-old Andreessen was selected for the White House’s top technology advisory committee. Recently, he was also invited to attend a banquet hosted by King Charles III of the UK in the United States, as well as a private club dinner held by Trump at the White House Rose Garden.

Regulatory filing documents show that most of Andreessen and Horowitz’s large donations come from the a16z entities wholly owned by the two. The $115.5 million for this election cycle does not include tens of millions of dollars recently invested by the firm in an emerging AI nonprofit advocacy organization, American Innovators Network, which does not need to publicly disclose detailed donation records.

Founded in 2009, a16z is one of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious investment firms. Drawing on the model of Hollywood talent agencies, it incubates startups—hiring aggressively and skilled at self-promotion. In its early days, it bet on crypto exchange Coinbase and the social platform Instagram, laying the foundation for its industry reputation.

The founders’ political stances are both quite story-filled. In the 1990s, Andreessen rose to fame as a young man for the early browser Mosaic, and went on to join the ranks of billionaires. He was also a core member of Al Gore’s tech think tank and a major Democratic fundraiser.

Years later, his political stance gradually shifted to the right. He has disclosed that after Trump won in 2016, he deliberately stepped back from political fundraising, embarking on a “self-reflection journey” to reassess various ideological extremist currents.

According to people familiar with his private social circle, Andreessen is now active in a variety of exclusive private communities and often discusses current affairs with conservative activists.

Horowitz, 59, has a father who is a well-known conservative agitator, David Horowitz. But insiders say Horowitz himself has made far fewer public political remarks, and his involvement in super PAC activities is relatively limited. a16z publicly endorsed Trump in the summer of 2024; in October of the same year, Horowitz also—through personal connections—provided funding support to Democratic presidential candidate Harris.

Andreessen and Horowitz publicly describe themselves as “single-issue voters”: their voting and donations consider only whether it benefits the development of tech startups. Insiders say that because of frequent clashes in their early years with the media and the Biden administration over tech policy, the two ultimately became firmly committed to deep political participation.

Andreessen once told friends a story from the past. About ten years ago, at the Condé Nast headquarters where it is part of the New Yorker’s publisher, he had a dispute with the magazine editor David Remnick. The other side’s team accused tech elites of being disconnected from ordinary people and out of touch with the masses. But after Andreessen toured the other side’s luxurious offices and bathroom facilities, he actually concluded that the media elites were the ones truly detached from reality.

Before the 2024 election, Chris Lehane—a longtime Silicon Valley political operator who also served on Coinbase’s board—led the formation of Fairshake. Andreessen and Horowitz believed the Biden administration’s stance toward the crypto industry was too hardline. On top of that, with crypto’s political figure SBF convicted for fraud, the industry urgently needed to open up a new political pathway.

So a16z, together with Coinbase, Ripple, and other crypto giants, became a core funder of Fairshake. During the 2024 election cycle, the firm donated $47 million to the organization. Although most of Washington’s crypto-friendly policies now come from Trump (Fairshake has not endorsed Trump), this political layout is still viewed within the industry as a successful attempt.

In spring 2025, Lehane—now at OpenAI—again took the lead, teaming up with a16z, technology power brokers, and political operators to plan to replicate the crypto industry’s political fundraising strategy in the artificial intelligence field, while also laying groundwork early and increasing investment.

With a16z fully throwing itself into a portfolio full of projects in the AI track, in August 2025 it donated $25 million to the AI political action committee Leading the Future, and then added another $25 million in February 2026. People familiar with the matter say the firm has not yet decided whether it will continue adding more donations.

Compared with the hundreds of billions of dollars in assets managed by a16z, $115.5 million in political spending is not particularly high. But other top Silicon Valley venture firms, such as Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund, have not taken similar large-scale political approaches.

According to The New York Times’ statistics, since the 2024 election, the only publicly known federal donors behind a16z in disclosed giving amounts are Soros-affiliated organizations (about $103 million) and Musk ($85 million).

Large-scale political participation has also pulled a16z into disputes and backlash on multiple fronts.

Internally, early partner John O’Farrell resigned from his part-time adviser role in May of last year due to disagreements over political ideology. He publicly criticized Fairshake and Leading the Future—the two major political action committees—and, in his words, “tech people who actively cater to the current administration, including many former venture capitalists and partners.” He refused to provide further comment.

Externally, progressive forces have strongly attacked a16z. Last year, several Democratic lawmakers publicly criticized Arizona Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego and Andreessen for co-hosting fundraising events.

a16z’s move to back the AI super PAC Leading the Future has also sparked industry checks and balances. A countervailing super PAC called Public First, founded on the principles of AI safety, emerged for the purpose of offsetting the political funding influence of a16z and its allies. Insiders even joked that the organization should be named “z16a,” deliberately reversing the widely used abbreviation for a16z.

Alex Bores, a Democratic state assembly member in New York who is running for Congress with backing from Public First, said openly that he is not afraid of attacks from Leading the Future: “Venture capital’s logic is to pursue rapid scaling, but it shouldn’t be applied to buying influence in democratic politics.”

Some Republicans also look skeptically at a16z’s political bets. Privately, they are dissatisfied with Fairshake and Leading the Future’s insistence on a bipartisan neutrality strategy, arguing that AI and crypto industry policy are inherently more friendly to Republicans, and that the related political action committees should fully throw their support behind the GOP.

Andreessen and Horowitz have told allies that they have limited decision-making power within the two major super PACs and rarely directly connect with the committees’ management.

a16z’s political strategy and lobbying operation in Washington is coordinated by former congressional aide and Republican Collin McCune. He keeps real-time track of developments involving the two super PACs and relays the latest policy and political landscape updates to Andreessen.

But that doesn’t mean Andreessen doesn’t understand the rules of politics. In 2000, at just 29 years old, he already famously asserted: “If you think today’s political donation amounts are big, you haven’t seen the true scale yet.”