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Despite the “blue tsunami” in the midterm elections that flipped the U.S. House and Senate, Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-16) said he was hesitant to read the results as a mandate for the Democratic party.
“It’s not a secret that the Democratic Party is not terribly popular, and we won despite that fact,” he said. “This was less about voters being woke and more about voters being broke.”
Two policy issues are top-of-mind for Liccardo as he enters his second term: affordability and AI safety. His district includes portions of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties –– including Palo Alto, Mountain View and Menlo Park –– and the headquarters for several major tech companies such as Meta and Google.
Liccardo said he will strongly support policies from congressional Democrats that aim to give families an economic boost. This includes eliminating tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump that have contributed to higher prices, raising the minimum wage, extending Affordable Care Act tax credits to lower healthcare costs and ending the war in Iran.
He also hopes to pass artificial intelligence safety legislation. While states have passed AI safety laws, there has been no comprehensive legislation. In September, Liccardo announced an AI safety framework that he plans to introduce when Congress reconvenes on Monday after an extended recess. That bill is a response to a July letter in which 1,300 employees from major tech companies urged U.S. policymakers to support technical and governance tools they say are needed to “pace the frontier of automated AI development.”
“It’s imperative for us to get an AI safety bill over the goal line quickly, and we have a bipartisan bill already in play,” he said. “I know my colleagues will want to tinker with it, and that’s fine. But we need to get it to the floor for a vote.”
Stakeholders who view AI development as a “race” argue that an AI safety framework in the U.S. would allow developers abroad, particularly in China, to gain ground. That’s why international cooperation is a key element of Liccardo’s safety framework that calls for a binding U.S.-China safety agreement around testing and evaluation of AI models, independent auditing and transparency requirements and other other elements. The framework would also establish a “hotline” between the U.S. and Chinese governments for urgent communications related to AI risks.
In addition to AI safety, Liccardo said he is focused on addressing the “enormous tech-lash” related to data centers. Data center construction — which has totaled $720 billion from Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta in 2026 alone — has sparked backlash in communities from Wisconsin to Florida concerned about the environmental impact, higher electricity bills and a lack of transparency from AI companies.
Liccardo said he’s been working with a range of policymakers, industry players and environment groups to conceive of an approach that will protect communities while enabling the build-out of data centers. He noted that data centers, which will require expansion of the electrical grid, could help spur the green transition in an industry that still depends primarily on fossil fuels.
“That infrastructure is something we actually need for the 21st century,” he said.
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