AI Researcher Jason Poulos Challenges Jake Auchincloss in MA-4, Framing Race as a Test of the Democratic Party’s Soul
Jason Poulos never expected to run for office.
“I’ve always wanted to be in research and contribute to advancing human knowledge,” said Poulos, an independent researcher in artificial intelligence and economic policy, in an interview with The Heights.
Poulos, 40, decided to run for Congress and challenge Democratic incumbent Jake Auchincloss for Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District seat after seeing the harsh effects of AI on the workforce and how it concentrates wealth and power in the hands of a wealthy few.
“I’m very concerned about the intersection between how AI is impacting society and the workforce,” Poulos said. “It’s estimated about 50,000 layoffs last year were due to AI, and about 8 percent of the workforce going forward, in the next decade, is going to be laid off due to AI.”
Poulos has a Ph.D. in political science with a designated emphasis in computational science and engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed a postdoc at Harvard Medical School in AI and health policy. Poulos currently designs evaluation frameworks for frontier AI systems.
A Policy Platform For An Automated Future
Poulos’ campaign focuses on four related policy areas that he believes can combat growing AI-related inequalities: Medicare-for-All, universal basic income, corporate taxes on automation, and collective bargaining rights.
“We need robust, progressive legislation to account for persistent double-digit unemployment,” Poulos said. “It’s really important that we have health insurance available to everybody in this country, and that’s particularly important in an economy where AI is displacing more and more people.”
While Poulos is focused on helping as many people as possible, he believes AI poses the largest danger to young people, framing his campaign as a “youth revolt.”
“The policy aspect is focused on the universal, and that’s important to me,” Poulos said. “But in terms of young people, I think it’s particularly important [to advocate for them] because I think young people are going to bear the brunt of this economy in which AI is displacing jobs.”
Jeremy Rasmussen, Poulos’ campaign manager and a research fellow at Harvard University, initially focused primarily on STEM. It wasn’t until Rasmussen looked into researching his girlfriend’s cancer that he said he realized everything is political—even cancer research.
When Rasmussen approached his supervisor about pursuing research in that area, he was told there were too few patients to make it profitable.
“I thought everyone wanted to cure cancer, regardless of where they stood on the spectrum, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case,” Rasmussen said.
Frustration with Auchincloss
Rasmussen was searching for a way to make a difference when he stumbled upon one of Poulos’ Instagram Reels. In the reel, Poulos called out Auchincloss for taking donations from Palantir Technologies, a software company criticized for empowering government surveillance and providing military targeting software.
Of the nearly $3 million Auchincloss has raised in the 2026 midterm season, $25,350 came from Palantir employees—representing less than 1 percent of total contributions, according to campaign finance filings.
“He was pointing [Palantir] out, saying, ‘I pledge not to take any PAC (Political Action Committee) money. I pledge not to take any of this dark money, not to engage in the system whatsoever, and stand on my ideas,’” Rasmussen recalled.
Rasmussen, who has lived in the Boston area for six years, is dissatisfied with Auchincloss’ actions in Congress.
“There is an amendment right now on the floor of Congress to overturn Citizens United at the national level. Auchincloss says, ‘Oh, but we could probably do it at the state level, so why would we bother doing it at the national level,’ which I just feel is very disingenuous,” Rasmussen said.
While Auchincloss has discussed addressing Citizens United at a state level, he has also co-sponsored alternative legislation to end dark money in politics at a national level.
Citizens United was a landmark Supreme Court decision holding that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures. The ruling has drawn criticism for enabling undisclosed political spending and entrenching the influence of money in politics, which some view as a form of financial corruption.
In the first quarter of 2026, Auchincloss raised $139,000 from political committees, such as PACs, according to FEC filings, accounting for over 31 percent of his first-quarter contributions.
“We’re not in it for any profit incentive right now, and we don’t think we need staff,” said Rasmussen. “This is still a completely grassroots endeavor. It’s a bunch of people around the community who are willing to just donate their time to make this successful.”
Poulos’ Foreign Policy
Poulos believes Auchincloss votes against the interests of American citizens when foreign policy is involved, citing Auchincloss’ support for Pentagon funding and military aid for Israel as examples.
“This past January, he voted to provide Donald Trump with a $1 trillion Pentagon budget, which is the largest military budget in this country’s history,’ Poulos said. “I would expect that Representative Auchincloss would again vote to increase the Pentagon budget because he fundamentally likes war and is a supporter of the American empire.”
Auchincloss voted to fund the Pentagon along with the majority of Democrats, and the funding was required to keep the government open.
Central to Poulos’ campaign is his support for Palestine.
“A just policy is going to involve peace for both Israelis and Palestinians, and that’s going to involve a track towards a two-state solution,” Poulos said.
On Iran, Poulos maintains that it is fundamentally clear the United States should not be involved.
“I think fundamentally, he agrees [with the war], and his previous statements indicated that he is in favor of regime change in Iran,” Poulos said. “He just wanted regime change through airstrikes. He thought that the United States has air superiority over Iran, and that turned out to be false.”
A spokeswoman for Auchincloss rejected Poulos’ characterization of the congressman’s position, pointing instead to a number of Auchincloss’ public statements opposing the war in Iran.
“Despite these unsubstantiated and false claims, Congressman Auchincloss has been vehemently opposed since day one to the Trump administration’s illegal war,” Burros wrote to The Heights. “He has stated repeatedly that President Trump is the first president to start and lose a war, and that Americans do not want to be dragged into another forever war.”
MA-4’s Appetite for a Challenger
Rasmussen said the Poulos campaign is making headway in the district, garnering enough signatures for Poulos to appear on the ballot in September.
“At this point, I’m happy to report that we do have over 2,000 signatures,” Rasmussen said. “So we’re pretty confident in the fact that we’ll be on the ballot.”
Poulos attributed his success to what he perceives as Auchincloss’ failure to effectively represent the district in Washington.
“I would argue that the disconnect is not between the policy agenda that I’m proposing, but the type of representation that Representative Auchincloss has conducted in the House of Representatives,” Poulos said. “I feel like he’s creating a disconnect there between his votes and the interests and preferences of his constituency here in the district.”
Rasmussen is optimistic that getting the word out will be instrumental in bolstering further support for the campaign.
“I like to say the facts are enough, and our positions are popular enough that as long as we can reach people, we’re going to be able to carry the momentum of this campaign forward,” Rasmussen said.
Poulos believes this election will serve as a microcosm of the state of the Democratic Party.
“I feel this race is essentially a contest over whether the Democratic Party as a whole is going to continue to serve the interests of the donor class, or whether they’re going to fight for the working class,” Poulos said.
Correction (04/28/2026, 8:09 p.m.): This article was updated to omit Poulos’ claim that “Representative Auchincloss has voted for every expansion of military funding since he’s been in office.” This is false. While Auchincloss voted to pass the defense budget, he voted against the National Defense Authorization Act that authorized the defense budget, an expansion of military funding.
This article was also corrected to omit a previous statement summarizing Rasmussen’s claims that Auchincloss advocates for Medicare-for-All, which was incorrect.
Correction (05/02/2026, 9:20 p.m.): This article was corrected to clarify Auchincloss’ actions regarding the overturning of Citizens United.
This article was also updated to omit a statement that Auchincloss does not support Palestine, which was a misinterpretation of Auchincloss’ statement that he “strongly support[s] Israel.”
It was also updated to include a statement from a spokeswoman for Auchincloss.
