Episode summary
Can AI Keep Going After The Democrats’ Big Win? — With Teddy Schleifer
Big Technology Podcast
· · 32 min · Hosts: Ranjan Roy, Alex Stamos · Guests: Teddy Schleifer
Summary
The episode argues that the Democrats’ midterm sweep could slow the AI buildout by shifting Congress against data centers, AI spending, and the tech industry’s political comfort zone. Teddy Schleifer says the last two years were unusually favorable for AI companies, but that a Democratic majority in both chambers could bring investigations, subpoenas, and new legislative guardrails even with Trump still in the White House.
A major theme is that the politics of AI are becoming concrete and local. The host points to voter backlash against data centers in at least 38 jurisdictions, and Teddy Schleifer says that makes the industry’s future fight narrower and more difficult. He also argues that the data center industry is only beginning to organize politically, citing its new super PAC and its inability to save candidates like Darlene Graham.
The conversation also covers Elon Musk, whose heavy spending on Republican candidates did not prevent losses, and California’s billionaire tax, which Teddy Schleifer says looks likely to fail after an intense tech-funded campaign against it. On markets, the host notes that investors are already betting a Democratic Congress will restrain AI capex, sending major tech stocks higher.
Key takeaways
- Teddy Schleifer says the Democrats’ victory ends the tech industry’s unusually friendly 2025-2026 political run and could bring a more hostile policy climate.
- The host highlights 38 jurisdictions passing data center bans or restrictions, which Teddy Schleifer calls close to a national referendum on the industry.
- Teddy Schleifer expects investigations and subpoenas for AI and tech leaders, with Elon Musk especially exposed after backing Republicans.
- The California billionaire tax appears to be failing after more than $330 million in opposition spending tied to Sergey Brin and other tech figures.
- The host says markets are betting Democrats will slow AI spending, which helped lift Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Apple.
- Teddy Schleifer argues that even without federal AI legislation, the election could reshape the industry through local fights, hearings, and political pressure.
Notable quotes
“going forward um there is going to be obviously a Democratic uh majority in both chambers which are going to be not as uh pro AI and not as pro data center”
“there's going to be significant pain for him uh politically going forward”
How the episode opens
Now that the Democrats have swept the US midterms, is the AI industry about to get stopped in its tracks by a hostile government? We'll talk about it with New York Times reporter Teddy Schlifer right after this. Welcome to Big Technology Podcast, a show for Coolheaded and Nuance conversation of the tech world and beyond.
Stop the presses. We had an episode scheduled for today, but after the big Democrat win in both the Senate and the House, we could see some major shifts in the AI build out coming. So, we scrapped our traditional plan for Wednesday, and we're bringing in New York Times reporter Teddy Schlifer for an emergency episode about the implications, the potentially far-reaching implications of what this midterm win from the Democrats, who will potentially be extremely hostile to the AI agenda could mean for the AI buildout and the massive business that is expecting the buildout to continue to go as planned.
Teddy, it's good to see you. Welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me. So, I'm looking at the New York Times homepage right now. Um, headline at the top, Democrats will have huge majority in the House.
Uh, the Senate right now has 54 Democrat seats to 44 Republican seats. And the House, where they're still counting, has 230 Well, they're counting in still counting in both, but the the House has more outstanding 237 Democrat seats to 147 Republicans. Um, obviously this is going to have major implications on the AI buildout.
Uh, because a lot of these candidates were talking about data centers. They're talking about AI safety in their victory speeches like John Assaf did the Georgia senator when he won uh on Tuesday. So, what are the implications for the AI buildout?
Uh, and what's your broader reaction to what happened off the bat?
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai buildout
- democratic midterms
- data center backlash
- subpoenas for tech ceos
- billionaire tax
Companies and tickers mentioned
- NYT
- New York Times
Watch the episode
Watch “Can AI Keep Going After The Democrats’ Big Win? — With Teddy Schleifer” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Big Technology Podcast, this episode and its artwork belong to Alex Kantrowitz. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
