Pro-AI Groups Pour $100 Million Into Midterm Elections as Regulation Battle Intensifies

Group Plans $100 Million Midterm Effort to Back Trump AI Agenda

A former top aide to President Donald Trump is initiating a $100 million campaign to promote the administration's pro-artificial intelligence agenda during this year's midterm elections. The launch of the Innovation Council adds new heft to the AI industry's already extensive efforts to shape the 2026 races that will decide control of the US House and Senate. Another group backed by billionaires including the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and OpenAI President Greg Brockman has pledged to spend more than $100 million bolstering candidates friendly to the sector. The new group, led by former Trump White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, will concentrate on promoting Trump's efforts to "unleash American innovation and American prosperity right here in the USA," according to the the Innovation Council's website. Budowich previously led the pro-Trump super political action committee MAGA Inc. and worked on the president's 2024 campaign. Trump has spent his second term embracing the AI boom and seeking to advance it. He signed an executive order to help quash state-level AI safety laws, supported initiatives to speed up data center construction and pledged to ensure the US wins the AI race against China. Innovation Council has the backing of David Sacks, an AI adviser to the president. The group's launch was earlier reported by Axios. Earlier: More Than Half of US Says AI Likely to Harm Them, Poll Finds "Innovation Council will play a critical role in advancing the innovation agenda championed by President Trump and this administration," Sacks said in a statement. "We welcome its support at this important juncture." The Innovation Council, which is structured as a so-called "dark money" group that does not have to disclose its donors, was incorporated in Utah last year. Budowich said he does not plan to reveal names of contributors. In order to assess which candidates Innovation Council will support or oppose, the group is compiling scorecards assessing how supportive lawmakers have been of Trump's AI agenda. The advocacy comes as public sentiment on artificial intelligence continues to sour, according to recent surveys. A poll by Quinnipiac released earlier Monday showed more than half of Americans believe AI would likely do more harm than good.

Pro-AI group to spend $100mn on midterm elections as backlash grows

A new pro-AI group that has the support of Trump adviser David Sacks plans to spend at least $100mn on backing candidates in November's midterm elections, as the industry tries to head off calls for stricter regulation of the technology. The planned spending by the group, called Innovation Council Action, comes on top of the almost $200mn raised by other pro-AI organisations, and will ensure that artificial intelligence policy is a key battleground in the race for control of Congress. Last year, Leading the Future -- a political action committee backed by Trump donors including OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, venture capital titans Andreessen Horowitz and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale -- raised $125mn to spend on pro-AI candidates. Meta has separately earmarked $65mn to spend on state-level races. Public First Action, a group whose only disclosed donor is AI company Anthropic, aims to raise as much as $75mn to support candidates who back stronger regulation of the sector. The Future of Life Institute, a non-profit that also favours more AI oversight, is spending $8mn on a "pro-human" television advertising campaign in key states including Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan and North Carolina. The formation of Innovation Council Action, which will be run by former Trump aide Taylor Budowich, comes just days after the White House unveiled a framework for AI regulation, which asked lawmakers to implement light-touch child safety and content rules while also preventing individual states from passing their own AI laws. Sacks will not have a formal role with the organisation but said in a statement that the Trump administration "welcome[d] its support at this important juncture." Recent polling has shown that a majority of Americans support stricter rules to govern AI, including many of Trump's 2024 voters. One survey by NBC News -- which circulated in the White House -- showed AI to be less popular than the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Members of Trump's own coalition have also broken ranks to call for more regulation of AI. Last year, Republican senators Josh Hawley and Marsha Blackburn blocked a plan by the White House to ban state-level regulation, amid opposition from others within their party, such as Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis. But Sacks, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who until recently served as the White House's AI and crypto tsar, has pushed for a single federal rule book, arguing that a patchwork of state laws could hinder the industry's progress in the race with China. Sacks was last week announced as the new co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which will include Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Oracle's Larry Ellison and Marc Andreessen. The founding of Innovation Council Action was first reported by Axios.

Scoop: New pro-AI PAC preps $100M midterm blitz to boost Trump's agenda

Why it matters: The AI lobby is on course to be a colossal player in the 2026 elections -- bankrolling allies who advocate for deregulation and punishing critics who support tighter rules. Zoom out: Trump has advocated for a national AI regulatory standard -- as opposed to state-by-state laws -- and for expedited creation of AI infrastructure such as data centers. * He has pushed to make the U.S. the dominant player in AI innovation ahead of China. The new group is led by Taylor Budowich, a former Trump White House deputy chief of staff. Budowich also formerly led the pro-Trump MAGA Inc. super PAC and Securing American Greatness political outfits. He was a top official on Trump's 2024 campaign. * Because the organization is a nonprofit group, it's not required to disclose its donors -- a "dark money" organization, in campaign parlance. The group is being praised by Sacks, a major Trumpworld figure who was the White House's AI czar during the first year of Trump's current term. Sacks remains influential in guiding the administration's tech policy. * "Innovation Council will play a critical role in advancing the innovation agenda championed by President Trump and this administration," Sacks told Axios in a statement. "We welcome its support at this important juncture." Zoom in: Other AI-focused political groups include Leading the Future, which has disclosed raising $50 million. * That group's donor list includes tech executives Greg Brockman, Joe Lonsdale and Marc Andreessen. * Meta has launched a pro-AI super PAC effort that is expected to spend around $65 million for the midterms, with plans to focus on state-level races. Behind the scenes: Innovation Council Action has opened a D.C. office and quietly has been raising money since late last year.

Groups Set Up to Shill AI and Data Centers Are Pouring Huge Sums of Money Into the Midterm Elections

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Artificial intelligence remains deeply unpopular with the American public. One poll found it's even more reviled than ICE, which is no small feat given the mass protests that erupt whenever the agency's goons march into another US city. A few political action groups are hoping to turn that around. Going into the 2026 midterm elections, the Financial Times reports, newly-formed PACs with major tech industry backing are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to shape how voters think about AI regulation. Some of the groups cast a wide net, like Leading the Future, a super PAC backed by Trump donors and AI barons like OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, and tech venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz. Founded in August of 2025, Leading the Future has raised over $125 million to back pro-AI candidates who oppose state-level regulations, according to the FT. Others, like the pro-regulation PAC Public First Action, serve as vehicles for individual AI companies to push their agendas. Backed solely by Anthropic, this group aims to raise $75 million to boost candidates who want to preserve state's individual rights to regulate AI. Mark Zuckerberg's Meta also has its own pet super PAC, the American Technology Excellence Project, which aims to spend $65 million on state-level candidates who will "defend American tech leadership at home and abroad" -- a fluffy way of saying "oppose AI regulation." This jockeying over states' rights to regulate AI is the key question in the 2026 PAC wars. Though Republicans have largely staked their flag as the party of small government -- which was always a selective attitude, to be fair -- Donald Trump is now pushing for a major expansion of federal power. His latest AI framework seeks to concentrate regulatory authority over the tech at the executive level, which would effectively strip all 50 states of oversight power. Bankrolling that push is Innovation Council Action, a hawkish super PAC backed by Trump advisor and PayPal mafioso David Sacks and led by former Trump communications aide Taylor Budowich. The newly formed group plans to spend at least $100 million supporting candidates who aren't just pro-AI, but who will commit to carrying out Trump's consolidation agenda, exclusively. That PAC marks a major challenge to groups like Leading the Future, which Trump and his cabinet found to be insufficiently loyal. "President Trump has made it clear, America will win the AI race against China, period," Budowich told Fox. "He built the framework, he's leading from the front, and this organization exists to make sure he doesn't fight that battle alone. The cavalry is coming to back up the policymakers who stand with the president and will hold accountable the ones who don't." More on AI and politics: Insiders Afraid the Government Will Nationalize the AI Industry