• by Laurie Sullivan , March 31, 2026

Former Trump White House Deputy Chief of Staff and AI advisor to President Trump Taylor Budowich has started a $100 million campaign to promote the current administration’s pro-artificial intelligence (AI) agenda during the 2026 midterm elections.

It will focus on promoting Trump's efforts as the administration embraces and seeks to advance U.S.-led AI efforts to stifle state-level AI safety laws while supporting AI initiatives to speed up data center construction and ensure that the U.S. surpasses China’s efforts.

"America is the country that started the AI race,” Trump said, according to the website. “And as President of the United States, I'm here today to declare that America is going to win it."

The Innovation Council incorporated in Utah last year is structured as a “dark money,” per Bloomberg, that does not need to disclose its donors. Budowich does not plan to reveal the names of contributors.

Dark money refers to political spending aimed at influencing elections where the source of funding is not disclosed to the public. 

Another group is backed by billionaires such as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and OpenAI President Greg Brockman. They have pledged to spend more than $100 million supporting candidates friendly to AI.

The mission of the group is to support political candidates who favor federal oversight on AI rather than separate state legislation, and oppose strict federal or state-level AI safety regulations.

The group is developing a scorecard to determine which measures and candidates to fund. It will rank lawmakers based on their support for the administration's AI priorities.

Lawmakers with an A+ rating listed in a release include Chris Coons, Senate Democrat (Delaware); Thom Tillis, Senate Republican (North Carolina); and Nathan Moran, House Republican (Texas).

A major policy is advocating for one federal set of rules for AI to prevent a "patchwork" of state regulations from slowing down U.S. innovation.