Intelligencer

“By the time Texas was close to being called for James Talarico, the texts were coming in fast and very furious,” writes Jake Lahut. “Closely mirroring the attitude of the voters, Republican operatives saw a group of out-of-touch party elites getting rich while the rest of them staggered under catastrophic losses.” “Susie Wiles, James Blair, and Chris LaCivita have proven themselves to be historic: losing South Carolina, Texas, and Kansas,” one GOP strategist said, naming three of the key members in President Donald Trump’s inner circle. “Trump has truly hired the dumbest people.” Republican staffers are mortified by a president they readily admit couldn’t have been more distant from voters’ concerns, which revolved around high prices stoked by an unnecessary war in Iran. On the bright side, the midterms acted like a cleansing wave, ridding the party of many of its worst representatives, like Ken Paxton in Texas. “Well, we’re at rock bottom,” a Republican pollster said, “but there’s a lot fewer guys around to dig.” Lahut hears from Republican operatives, who tell him that a “criminal laziness” has permeated the party, resulting in catastrophic midterm losses: nymag.visitlink.me/7nJrCQ

In a night full of incredible victories for Team Blue, none was more remarkable or significant than Texas state legislator James Talarico’s landslide win over Attorney General Ken Paxton for a U.S. Senate seat that Republicans had held since 1961. This was the most expensive non-presidential political contest in U.S. history, and the winner, himself an incredible fundraising machine, was outspent overall by about a two-to-one margin. That was in no small part because the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, spent an incredible $168 million in a rescue effort for Paxton that from a distance felt irresistible in its sheer demonic weight. The Democrat kept on keeping on with a message that took a moderate problem-solving approach to cost of living concerns, but with a distinctive populist edge. Talarico never pandered to conservatives nor abandoned even the most vulnerable Democratic constituencies. And in the end, it all worked. Read more: nymag.visitlink.me/XtMBtq

Charles Porch is rich, super-connected, and tasked with getting celebrities (and everyone else) to not hate OpenAI so much. “There’s a strategy around making friends,” he tells Charlotte Klein. nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…

The defeated lawmaker gained prominence as a voice for AI safety. Now, he has a plan, and $30 million, for keeping Democrats in line. nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…

The future of AI — and therefore the world — will be shaped by a few dozen quietly powerful engineers, founders, brokers, and policy-makers. It’s time you got to know them. nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…

One way to tell the story of how AI is changing our world is through some newly familiar names: Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Jensen Huang. But an astonishing amount of power rests in the hands of a few dozen other people, some virtually anonymous. Many of these people are tasked with shaping how the public, or a company, thinks about AI. Some are reimagining how we interact with AI, such as developing models that could change our relationship to work. Others are spinning up advocacy groups with a single check. For our annual “Power” issue, we partnered with @TransformersMag, a publication with a command of the politics within transformative AI, to surface 26 people whose influence on the AI landscape far outstrips their fame. We then commissioned multimedia artist @dennnnnnnnny to create images of each. These individuals are remarkably intertwined: Many share offices, homes, and funding. The list’s average age is 36. It is overwhelmingly male. These names come from both private and public sectors, so you’ll find founders and engineers as well as lawmakers and regulators. Most importantly, they still have everything to play for. Read our list of the 26 power brokers who are quietly shaping the future of AI: nymag.visitlink.me/wjgAC-

In the days before Haley Stevens did the unthinkable and endorsed Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s fiercely contested Senate race, her staff and Democratic leaders were imploring her not to jump ship. “There have been an unbelievable amount of people who have talked to her in the last 48 hours,” a top Michigan Democratic operative told reporter Daniel Strauss. “Everyone’s been in touch with Haley.” One of those people was Maryland representative Jamie Raskin, whose takeaway Saturday night was that Stevens would not support the Trump-backed Republican. “I’m dumbfounded that Haley would tell me one thing last night and then change her mind today,” Raskin said Sunday. The reason Democrats were concerned was because Stevens, who ostensibly backed Abdul El-Sayed after August’s bitter primary, had recently ratcheted up criticism of the nominee, and some feared a defection. But in text messages to friends on Saturday, Stevens signaled that she was still supporting El-Sayed and didn’t plan to make any news on Sunday. “She’s told people different things, but all have been hogwash,” said one top Democratic strategist who has worked extensively in Michigan. “I think this was always the plan.” Read more from Daniel Strauss on the Democratic congresswoman’s last minute about-face: nymag.visitlink.me/efuMYu