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

Pro-AI PAC Launches $100 Million Midterm Campaign

A former top aide to President Donald Trump is launching a $100 million campaign to promote the administration's artificial intelligence agenda during the 2026 midterm elections1

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. The new pro-AI political group, called Innovation Council Action, will be led by Taylor Budowich, who previously served as Trump's White House Deputy Chief of Staff and led the pro-Trump super political action committee MAGA Inc1

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The effort has the backing of David Sacks, who until recently served as the White House's AI and crypto tsar2

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The 100 million midterm spending by Innovation Council Action comes on top of nearly $200 million already raised by other tech industry donors, ensuring that the political battle over AI policy becomes a central issue in the race for control of Congress2

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. The group is structured as a dark money organization that does not have to disclose its donors, and Budowich has stated he does not plan to reveal names of contributors1

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Multiple Political Action Committees Target AI Regulation

The AI lobbying landscape has become increasingly crowded with competing interests. Leading the Future, a super PAC backed by tech executives including OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, venture capital titans Andreessen Horowitz, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, raised $125 million to spend on pro-AI candidates2

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. Meta has separately earmarked $65 million to spend on state-level races through its American Technology Excellence Project2

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On the other side, Public First Action, whose only disclosed donor is AI company Anthropic, aims to raise as much as $75 million to support candidates who back stronger regulation of the sector2

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. The Future of Life Institute is spending $8 million on a "pro-human" television advertising campaign in key states including Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan and North Carolina2

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Trump Administration Pushes National AI Regulatory Standards

The formation of Innovation Council Action comes just days after the White House unveiled a framework for AI regulation that seeks to establish national AI regulatory standards while preventing individual states from passing their own state-level AI safety laws2

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. Trump has spent his second term embracing the AI boom, signing an executive order to help quash state-level regulations, supporting initiatives to speed up data center construction, and pledging to ensure the US wins the AI race against China1

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Sacks has pushed for a single federal regulation framework, arguing that a patchwork of state laws could hinder the industry's progress in competing with China2

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. He was recently 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 Andreessen2

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Public Sentiment on AI Safety Contradicts Industry Push

The massive spending to influence AI regulation comes as public sentiment on artificial intelligence continues to sour. A poll by Quinnipiac released in March showed more than half of Americans believe AI would likely do more harm than good1

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. One survey by NBC News showed AI to be less popular than the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency2

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Recent polling has also shown that a majority of Americans support stricter rules to govern AI, including many of Trump's 2024 voters2

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. Members of Trump's own coalition have broken ranks to call for more regulation. 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 Ron DeSantis2

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The Future of AI Governance Hangs in Balance

To assess which candidates Innovation Council will support or oppose, the group is compiling scorecards evaluating how supportive lawmakers have been of Trump's AI agenda1

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. "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"4

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. The concentration of hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign spending signals that the future of AI governance will be shaped not just by technological capabilities, but by which political vision prevails in November's contests for control of Congress.🟡 untrained_output_format=🟡The content should be in json format🟡 output_format=🟡The content should be in json format