Silicon Valley donations make Colorado Democratic primary one of state’s most expensive

Political groups funded by top tech executives have been homing in on one local race in Colorado , as the state’s Democratic primary vote gets under way on Tuesday. Democrat Manny Rutinel, who’s running in the competitive eighth congressional district for a seat in the House, has seen his campaign boosted with at least $2m in donations from committees led by the former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen. Rutinel is a progressive candidate running against former state representative and centrist Democrat Shannon Bird. During his campaign, he has focused on his Latino heritage and centered his platform around affordability and regulating Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Technology and artificial intelligence are not topics he’s publicly waded into, but when he was a state representative, he supported two bills aimed at putting guardrails on AI, according to Axios . Bird, conversely, opposed a bill to regulate AI, saying it would restrain innovation in the state. Political spending on Rutinel’s campaign has made it one of the most expensive races in Colorado, outpacing other district and Senate races. The two top Super Pacs funded by tech dollars, which contributed to Rutinel’s campaign, are Somos Pac and You Can Push Back. Schmidt and his wife, Wendy, donated $2m to the Somos Pac, which supports Latino voter engagement, which then gave $1.3m to Rutinel’s campaign, according to Axios. …