Interview: What the 2026 Midterms mean for Crypto and AI, with Justin Slaughter

What do the 2026 midterm results mean for tech policy in the U.S.? Not necessarily a tech crackdown, according to Justin Slaughter, senior advisor at Paradigm. Justin explains why a wave this big scrambles the usual playbook, and what tech’s pitch to Democrats should be. This podcast also features Khurram Dara, Partner at Thompson Street, and Mike Katz, Partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:25 AI data centers and the exit polls 2:18 Tech’s unhedged political bet 3:28 Why a tech crackdown isn’t a given 5:01 A generational turnover 6:04 Realignment 9:00 How tech should approach Democrats now 10:25 Why startups have the advantage 13:52 Should crypto batten down the hatches? 16:32 Will Democrats listen? 19:30 What happens at the SEC and CFTC 22:42 Lessons from swaps and Dodd-Frank 25:02 What derailed CLARITY 27:53 Bubbles 29:00 Inside the Biden admin on crypto 32:29 The lesson of the long 2016 34:19 The state attorneys general shift Thank you to the sponsors of this episode: the Decentralization Research Center, the Solana Policy Institute, the Hyperliquid Policy Center and the law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel. To learn more about CahillNXT, visit https://www.cahill.com/practices/litigation-digital-assets-ai-frontier-technology. Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or investment advice. Views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of their employers. Listening to this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship.