41 members of Congress have taken a position on slowing AI down

Every X account belonging to the 539 sitting members was searched for posts about pausing, banning or slowing artificial intelligence, and the cosponsors of the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act were added. Each square below is one member.

Update — 7 November 2026. Democrats took both chambers. Of the eleven tracked candidate positions, ten won and one lost — Mike Rogers, in Michigan. Three people who called for a pause or a ban are heading to Congress: Melat Kiros (CO-01), Abdul El-Sayed (Michigan Senate) and Will Lawrence (MI-07). That takes the pause-or-ban bloc from 16 to 19. Two of the seven members on record against a pause are also leaving: John Cornyn lost his primary and Steve Daines did not seek re-election.

The sharpest post-election move is rhetorical rather than numerical. Yassamin Ansari now puts a pause at the top of the agenda for the new majority's first day, and Bernie Sanders is pressing for a national data center moratorium on the back of the local votes — Ballotpedia counted 40 of 41 local measures to limit data center development passing on 3 November. H.R. 10538 still has twelve cosponsors and S. 5493 still has none.
Hover or tap a square to see who it is.

Committed to a pause or ban

16

Called for pausing AI development or banning superintelligence — including cosponsors of H.R. 10538.

Wants the brakes applied

7

Used slow-down or "pump the brakes" language without demanding a formal pause.

Backs a data center moratorium

6

Wants construction of AI data centers halted; not a pause on model development.

Backs a local data center pause

2

Called for a pause on specific data center projects in their state.

Somewhere in between

3

Cited the slowdown calls or wants emergency stop capability, without committing to a pause.

Against slowing down

7

Argued publicly that AI development should not be slowed.

The candidates, and how they did

Drawn from Ballotpedia's 42 battleground House districts and 12 Senate states, plus safe-seat nominees who won contested primaries. Every candidate below took a position on slowing AI down before election day; the coloured line under each quote is what happened on 3 November. Scott Wiener's CA-11 win rests on Connie Chan's concession on the 4th; the AP count there is still open.

Committed to a pause or ban

3
  • Abdul El-SayedD · Michigan (Senate)
    Even the CEO of Anthropic agrees — the risks are far too great. We need a pause in AI development.
    @AbdulElSayed, 2026-09-13

    WON — Michigan Senate, defeated Mike Rogers

  • Melat KirosD · CO-01 (House)
    We need to pause the development of ASI and pass aggressive AI regulations now. Whether it’s the threat of a technology we can’t control, the massive market bubble from these companies, or the catastrophic impacts on our environment & global workforce, we cannot afford to wait.
    @MelatKirosCO, 2026-09-04

    WON — CO-01 (first Gen Z woman elected to Congress)

  • Will LawrenceD · MI-07 (House)
    Our new Stop Tech Overreach Plan: FIRST: We will immediately pause new AI and data center development. THEN: pass a national AI compact that taxes AI development.
    @WeWill2026, 2026-09-17

    WON — MI-07, defeated Rep. Tom Barrett (R). Called by AP 4 November.

Wants the brakes applied

2
  • Mike RogersR · Michigan (Senate)
    Following Dario Amodei's warning, I believe we must slow down development of AI in order to allow the government and its partners to catch up and put stricter protocols and guardrails in place.
    @MikeRogersForMI, 2026-09-13

    LOST — Michigan Senate, to Abdul El-Sayed

  • Scott WienerD · CA-11 (House)
    We must not let this just barrel forward. We know there's risk — big risk. We need to slow down, enact guardrails, and create a regulatory body. And we need global coordination.
    @Scott_Wiener, 2026-09-13

    In a debate clip circulated on 6 November he went further: "I'm gonna fight to regulate AI, and if we need to pause it we can pause it." Unverified — see the spreadsheet for provenance.

    WON — CA-11, succeeding Nancy Pelosi. Connie Chan conceded 4 November; AP had not formally called the count.

Backs a data center moratorium

4
  • Jamie AgerD · NC-11 (House)
    Until those protections are in place, I believe we should hit pause. No corner of WNC is worth destroying for a data center.
    @JamieAgerNC, 2026-07-17

    WON — NC-11, seat flipped from R (57.1% vs Balkcom 41.3%)

  • Mike RogersR · Michigan (Senate)
    I am calling for a one-year moratorium on new data centers until we establish a fair, transparent approval process that puts local communities first.
    @MikeRogersForMI, 2026-08-21

    LOST — Michigan Senate, to Abdul El-Sayed

  • Randy VillegasD · CA-22 (House)
    I support a moratorium on new data centers while Congress sets new standards that put working families first.
    @Villegas_CA22, 2026-08-26

    WON — CA-22, defeated Rep. David Valadao (R)

  • Rebecca CookeD · WI-03 (House)
    We need a federal moratorium on data centers.
    @RebeccaforWI, 2026-10-08

    WON — WI-03, defeated Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R)

Backs a local data center pause

1
  • Troy JacksonD · Maine (Senate)
    Criticized Gov. Mills for vetoing a pause on data centers in Maine: Big Tech billionaires want our water, our energy, our data.
    @TroyJackson207, 2026-04-24

    WON — Maine Senate, seat flipped from R (Susan Collins)

Somewhere in between

2
  • Brad LanderD · NY-10 (House, safe seat)
    A Democratic Congress must make crystal clear: No bailouts for AI. We need to learn from the lessons of past bubbles. (AI-bubble and bailout focus, not a development pause.)
    @bradlander, 2026-10-28

    WON — NY-10

  • Roy CooperD · North Carolina (Senate)
    It's alarming to see reports on the potential of humans losing control of AI. We should heed the warnings sounded by the CEOs of these companies.
    @RoyCooperNC, 2026-09-15

    WON — North Carolina Senate, seat flipped from R