WIRED’s Midterms Races to Watch: From data centers to Elon Musk funding

WIRED has released its tracking list for the 2026 midterm elections, identifying key congressional and gubernatorial contests where Silicon Valley venture capital, artificial intelligence lobbying, data center expansion, and election denial intersects with national politics. According to Wired's report, candidate pools across the country are actively competing over issues ranging from Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) mass federal firings to county-level semiconductor manufacturing proposals.

This breakdown details six specific high-stakes races featured in the publication's analysis. The report highlights how tech industry funding and infrastructure debates are shaping legislative contests in Texas, Arizona, Kansas, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Michigan for voters, political analysts, and industry observers ahead of the upcoming midterms.

WIRED’s Midterms Races to Watch: what actually changed

In Texas’ newly gerrymandered 10th congressional district, former America PAC lawyer Chris Gober is running for Congress after advising on the structure of the Department of Government Efficiency prior to President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Gober served as legal counsel for the Texas Republican congressional delegation during the 2025 redistricting process, which was designed to establish five new Republican seats for the 2026 midterms. His law firm, Lex Politica, previously represented Elevate New Mexico, an entity that funded advertisements supporting a controversial local data center project, as well as the Danube Institute USA. The 10th district contains Grimes County, where SpaceXAI and Tesla have announced plans for a 100-million-square-foot terafab semiconductor manufacturing facility.

Gober's campaign received $747,550 from American Mission PAC, a super PAC funded by the AI-focused political action committee Leading the Future. Leading the Future has raised over $140 million from Silicon Valley figures, including OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Gober also serves as general counsel for Maven Advocacy Partners, a defense tech lobbying group referencing Project Maven, while operating Maven Defense Solutions from his campaign address. A September poll showed Gober leading Democratic candidate Rourk 48 percent to 41 percent in his primary effort to become the first candidate directly affiliated with Elon Musk or DOGE elected to Congress.

WIRED’s Midterms Races to Watch: how it works

In Arizona’s 5th congressional district, former Pinal County sheriff Mark Lamb won the Republican primary with an endorsement from Donald Trump while campaigning on a platform of God, family, and freedom. Lamb maintains ties to the constitutional sheriffs movement, paramilitary groups, and anti-immigration organizations. During his tenure as sheriff, he refused to enforce public Covid restrictions and collaborated with the election-denial organization True the Vote to urge local sheriffs to investigate voting procedures. Lamb also authorized the creation of a civilian posse in Pinal County following Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

Because Arizona’s 5th District leans heavily Republican, Lamb enters the general election as the strong favorite to become the first constitutional sheriff elected to Congress. In Kansas’ 1st congressional district, Democratic nominee Lauren Reinhold is challenging three-term Republican incumbent Tracey Mann. Reinhold previously worked as a human resources administrator at the Social Security Administration before leaving her post in 2025 during DOGE-led federal workforce reductions and program cuts. Reinhold emerged from the Democratic primary as one of the few former federal civil servants running for office following the mass resignations and terminations under the Trump administration.

WIRED’s Midterms Races to Watch: why it matters now

The gubernatorial race in Wisconsin pits Democratic nominee David Crowley against Republican nominee and current congressman Tom Tiffany. In December 2020, Tiffany joined a Texas lawsuit attempting to invalidate Joe Biden’s presidential election win and subsequently voted against certifying electoral results in Pennsylvania and Arizona following the January 6 Capitol attack. Tiffany has publicly welcomed an FBI investigation into Wisconsin's state voting procedures. A victory by Tiffany would grant him executive authority to appoint members to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, directly influencing election oversight ahead of the 2028 presidential contest. A Marquette Law School poll conducted at the end of September showed Crowley leading Tiffany by 3 percentage points, 49 percent to 46 percent.

In Georgia, Democratic nominee and former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is competing against Republican nominee Rick Jackson, a billionaire health care executive. Jackson ran primary campaign advertisements opposing DEI initiatives, transgender policy, immigration, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s refusal to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. Jackson supports redrawing Georgia’s congressional map to eliminate majority-Black districts, favors local community oversight rather than a statewide moratorium on data center developments, and holds investments in a Texas data center. Bottoms has centered her campaign on health care expansion and Medicaid while proposing to consider a state moratorium on data center projects. A Rasmussen Reports poll shows Jackson leading Bottoms 48 percent to 45 percent.

WIRED’s Midterms Races to Watch: who is affected

In Michigan’s US Senate election, Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed faces Republican nominee and former congressman Mike Rogers. El-Sayed's primary campaign involved debates regarding military aid to Israel and the war in Gaza, leading to campaign appearances with former president Barack Obama aimed at organizing Democratic turnout among Black voters. El-Sayed has criticized Rogers regarding voter privacy concerns related to government surveillance tools, artificial intelligence, and Flock license plate camera networks. Rogers has denied these claims and publicly announced support for a one-year moratorium on new data center construction within Michigan.

Voters across these districts face immediate policy consequences tied to tech infrastructure and federal governance models. Residents in Kansas’ 1st district will vote on a race testing public sentiment regarding DOGE's federal budget cuts and worker terminations across rural communities. In Texas and Georgia, local populations are confronting competing campaign positions on multi-million-square-foot data centers, energy grid allocations, semiconductor facilities, and municipal development bans.

WIRED’s Midterms Races to Watch: what to watch

As the midterms approach, polling trends in Wisconsin and Georgia will indicate whether election administration platforms influence swing-state voters prior to 2028. In Wisconsin, Crowley's 49-46 lead remains within narrow margins as Tiffany targets the state's election apparatus. In Georgia, Jackson’s 48-45 lead over Bottoms highlights how data center policies and redistricting debates affect gubernatorial preferences in the South.

Key metrics in Texas' 10th district include whether Gober's $747,550 in super PAC support and 48-41 polling lead translate into a congressional seat for DOGE and Silicon Valley donors. Observers will also track whether Mark Lamb secures Arizona's 5th district without public polling data, and how voters respond to tech surveillance arguments in Michigan's Senate contest.