A Postmortem and Our New AI Future

September 15, 2026

On May 19, 2026, the Democratic Party held its primary elections to select its representative for Pennsylvania's 3rd Congressional District. Unfortunately, after months of meeting with voters, speaking to community groups, and sharing my vision that Washington desperately needs technical literacy, our campaign was unsuccessful. In fact, we did not even make it to the ballot, having been knocked off by a Democratic party challenge and an unsuccessful Pennsylvania Supreme Court appeal. To everyone who supported us throughout this journey and reached out after the news (and to those who wrote my name in): thank you.

A 22% voter turnout is not an accident; it's the predictable outcome of a Democratic machine prioritizing self-preservation over voter choice. In the end, however, the buck stopped with me. I failed to rally support to prepare for the impending threat of artificial intelligence run amok. The heavier loss isn't electoral, though; it's what comes next.

It's Much Worse Than We Imagined

The unfortunate result of this past election is that the status quo in Congress will continue. With no expertise or leadership in artificial intelligence, the technology will continue to change every facet of our lives without any meaningful guardrails or regulation. Our failure to act will leave us at the mercy of a handful of tech trillionaires, and, eventually, the technology itself.

In my 16 years as a computer scientist working with AI, I have always been aware of its potential to restructure the economy and rewrite the rules of our society. What I did not anticipate was the speed with which we'd get here. In just a few short years, AI moved from science fiction to displacing jobs and sparking discussions about human extinction. We have entered an era where the threat posed by AI can no longer be ignored, yet leaders in Washington have no idea what to do about it.

I am not giving up. This moment is too important, and if we miss it, we may not get another. I will continue speaking out to make it clear what's at stake and equip citizens with the information they need to demand change from their elected officials. My hope is that a grassroots effort will bring about the needed shift in Washington to mitigate the harms that we as a society are about to face. We cannot simply watch from the sidelines. The fight doesn't end with this election; this is where it starts!