Democrats See A Winning 2028 Message In Voters’ Tech Unease

Democrats see an opening to make Silicon Valley’s growing power a liability for Republicans in 2028.

The midterms showed how artificial intelligence and data center expansion can tap into voters' anxieties about jobs and energy costs. Now, prospective Democratic presidential candidates are picking through the GOP carnage to turn that discontent into a national message. And they’re weighing how far to go in confronting an industry that has become one of the country's most powerful political forces, setting the stage for what could become a central debate in the next race for the White House.

Voters want more control over issues that affect their lives, including AI, and they are concerned about how emerging tech will reshape their livelihoods, according to interviews with 10 prospective contenders, aides and outside strategists advising potential campaigns conducted by POLITICO in the hours after Democrats swept the midterm map.

They’ve already been tracking midterm messaging closely: commissioning polling, traveling to speak with voters and sounding out industry representatives and AI safety groups. Several were granted anonymity to discuss private campaign deliberations.

“I think that this is definitely about the loss of control that people have,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is mulling a run for president, told POLITICO. “There’s deep anxiety, not just over the cost of living, but about whether people can have an aspiration in America again.”

For some Democrats, the answer is a direct confrontation with the tech industry. Progressive lawmakers and activists have called for a pause on advanced AI development, congressional testimony from major lab executives and a ban on superintelligence — AI systems that theoretically could one day surpass human cognitive capabilities.

One adviser is pushing their candidate to “go full-bore against” tech executives. “Absolutely ring them out like you’ve never met them before.” Another thinks focusing on tech executives’ wealth could gin up the base on the campaign trail.

Others, particularly more centrist Democrats, are wary of making opposition to the technology itself the centerpiece of their message. They want to emphasize worker protections, consumer safeguards and public oversight while arguing that AI can still deliver economic benefits.

The distinction could become one of the defining policy debates of the Democratic presidential primary.

“I don’t think it’s that useful to just beat up on tech companies,” said one prominent Democrat who has considered a run for the presidency.

One of the common points of concern, the advisers said, is over the technology’s potential impacts on the workforce. AI executives at top labs like Anthropic and OpenAI have issued stark warnings that the technology they are developing may be able to replace human workers or obliterate entire sectors of the labor market.

Gina Raimondo, a former commerce secretary under the Biden administration, told POLITICO the focus should be on assuaging voters’ concerns about job loss. The message needs to be: “You and your kids are going to have a job in an AI economy.” Raimondo is the co-lead of RAISE US, an organization intended to help mitigate job disruption that may stem from AI adoption.

Democrats will need to deliver an answer to these issues, and show they can strengthen the U.S. economy while doing so.

“AI is like the final boss of people’s economic discontent,” said Rob Flaherty, a prominent Democratic strategist and co-founder of Tomorrow Together, a tech-focused political group.

The midterms litmus test

Top contenders rumored to be considering a presidential bid have offered glimpses into what their tech messaging may be in ads closing out their 2026 runs.

Gov. Wes Moore, who won reelection as Maryland’s governor, ran an ad railing against data centers and trumpeting restrictions he imposed on their development. Gov. Josh Shapiro ran negative ads tying his opponent, Stacy Garrity, to data centers. He previously positioned Pennsylvania as a potential data center hub before reversing course and limiting the infrastructure’s development in the state.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff made a direct-to-camera appeal in one of his final ads of the cycle, boasting that he “took on Big Tech” while in the Senate. And in his victory speech Tuesday night, the potential presidential candidate chastised tech executives who “dig bunkers for themselves and warn that the artificial intelligence they’re creating risks human extinction.”

One strategist in a potential candidate’s orbit said the best-testing ad they saw during the 2026 cycle was about giving local communities a say in how and where data centers are being built.

But if Democrats go too hard against the tech industry, they may alienate Silicon Valley and the deep pockets that make the region a must-stop destination for national Democrats looking to pad their coffers.

A wake-up call for Big Tech

Tuesday’s results were Silicon Valley’s “first dose of antibiotics,” said a Bay Area fundraiser who is advising 2028 candidates. Given the industry’s growing unpopularity, the fundraiser is telling donors to give to Democrats, but quietly, so their donations don’t become a political liability for preferred candidates.

“Nobody should know your name,” they are telling donors. “Nobody, even if they agree with you, is going to like what they’re hearing from somebody who’s profiting off of data centers and … whatever other bullshit we’re coming up with every given day in Silicon Valley.”

The AI conversation is only going to become noisier as outside groups and tech executives continue making their pitch to influence the 2028 debate.

Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s top lobbyist, has circulated a memo to prospective candidates, warning that the technology will define their bid for the White House. He implored them to offer an affirmative vision of AI, not merely a call to stop its development or let it continue advancing without guardrails.

Meanwhile, an array of tech-focused groups — including Public First, Tomorrow Together, Who Decides and Guardrails Alliance — are arguing, in plain view and to the campaigns themselves, that positioning themselves against Big Tech will be a winning message in their push for the presidency.

“The broader story of this election wasn't just AI,” according to Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist and senior adviser for Alex Bores’ New York congressional campaign, which he lost after facing an onslaught of tech dollars. “This election was an indictment of powerful elites who were controlling your life and raising your costs, and AI tech executives were part of that indictment.”