One week before Election Day, super PACs tied to Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Anthropic have been spending money in the race for Houston's newly redrawn 9th Congressional District. The beneficiary is Republican Alex Mealer, an Army veteran and former oil and gas investment banker who was heavily favored to win. Her Democratic opponent, Leticia Gutierrez, is hammering her for it.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Defending Our Values, part of a political network supported by Anthropic, spent just over $258,000 on digital ads supporting Mealer in the two weeks before publication, per FEC filings. The same report says the Trump-aligned No Going Back Super PAC spent more than $543,000 on text messaging, mail and advertising. America PAC, associated with Musk, spent more than $110,000 in the race.
Defending Our Values was already a big player earlier in the cycle. The Texas Tribune reported that the group spent over $400,000 supporting Mealer in the Republican primary, where she went on to beat state Rep. Briscoe Cain in the runoff.
What Anthropic Says About Its Money
Anthropic's role is a bit more tangled. CNBC reports that the company committed $20 million to Public First Action in February and another $20 million in July. Anthropic says its money is restricted to policy and public education and cannot fund candidate elections.
The Houston race is one slice of a much bigger AI spending fight. Per FEC filings through Oct. 20, groups favoring faster AI development and lighter regulation have spent roughly $8 million in general-election congressional races, topping the roughly $6.9 million from safeguards-focused groups. Across the cycle, AI political groups have spent about $78.5 million on federal candidates, with nearly three-quarters going to primaries.
Defending Our Values has shown up elsewhere, too. In Florida's 25th District, the same CNBC account says the group dropped almost $857,000 to boost Republican Scott Singer and another $740,000 to keep one of his primary opponents from being elected.
A Redrawn Map and a Tighter Poll Than Expected
Texas redrew the 9th District last year to help boost Republican U.S. House numbers, and the seat was long held by U.S. Rep. Al Green. The University of Houston notes it is one of five districts redrawn in a mid-decade effort to increase the number of Republicans Texans send to Congress. The Houston Chronicle adds that the new lines brought in Republican voters from eastern Harris County and Liberty County.
Voters in the district may barely recognize it. NBC News reports that 97 out of every 100 residents were in a different district in the 2024 election.
The Hobby School's survey of 677 likely voters found Mealer leading Gutierrez 48% to 42%, with 10% undecided, and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.77 percentage points. The district now trends Republican, but the poll found Gutierrez leading among Latino, Black and younger voters, while Mealer led among older and white voters. The Cook Political Report rates the race Likely Republican, per the Texas Tribune.
Trump's Name Fades From the Pitch
Trump endorsed Mealer and praised her service in the U.S. Army bomb squad in Afghanistan, according to the Houston Chronicle. But Houston Public Media reports the Hobby poll puts Trump's approval among likely voters in the district at 46%, and references to his endorsement had disappeared from Mealer's campaign website by September.
Gutierrez has made the outside money a campaign theme. She criticizes Mealer for taking money from national special interests and a super PAC backed by data-center companies, and her campaign website says Mealer would prioritize the profits of her backers over local families. Neither campaign immediately responded to the Chronicle's request for comment.
Polling and early voting data suggested Republicans could face a tougher-than-normal election night, with Republican seats in South and West Texas forecast as competitive. Whether the money moves a district this thoroughly reshuffled is something voters will answer next week.
