Rival AI PACs Spend Big in Florida to Sway Trump’s Governor Pick

The artificial-intelligence industry’s political machines battling each other over how to regulate the technology are trying a new tactic in Florida after fighting in primary elections across the US: joining together to make multimillion-dollar bets on the same candidate.

Two groups funded by feuding AI billionaires and their allies have each already spent more than $2 million on ads boosting US Representative Byron Donalds’ campaign for Florida governor, according to ad analytics firm AdImpact. The Republican is the leading candidate in both the party primary on Tuesday and the general election in November.

That means Donalds is well-positioned to become an influential voice in the struggle over AI regulation.

Current governor Ron DeSantis is a rare Republican who has pushed for stronger AI regulation and backed an “AI Bill of Rights,” though the measure failed in the state legislature this year. The state’s next governor will have to choose whether to take up DeSantis’s cause or side more closely with President Donald Trump, who favors a light-touch national standard on AI.

Leading the Future, a super political action committee favoring light AI regulation backed by billionaires including venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and OpenAI President Greg Brockman is in the unusual position of backing the same candidate in the governor’s race as Public First Action, an AI safety-focused group backed by Anthropic PBC chief executive officer Dario Amodei and other tech executives.

Earlier this year, the two political machines channeled a combined $23 million into a New York City Democratic congressional primary that became a proxy battle over who will control the future of AI. In that race, Leading the Future spent over $8 million opposing New York Assemblyman and AI safety advocate Alex Bores. Public First’s network spent over $15 million to defend him. Bores lost the race.

In the Florida governors race, though on the same side, they are two of the top spenders, outpacing Donalds’ Republican opponents and dominating the airwaves.

“The two opposing AI interests are trying to out-spend each other,” said Bela Sullivan, a policy and research associate at government ethics group Issue One. “They might disagree on AI policy, but they agree money gets you in the room.”

It’s an old Washington influence tactic: spend early and big to gain access to office-holders.

“This is why big corporate PACs and interest groups give – they want to try to have access and influence with who they think is going to be elected,” said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor.

Boosted by an early endorsement from Trump, Donalds has a formidable polling lead in the Republican primary over rival candidates including Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins and investor James Fishback.

Representatives of both AI super PACs claim Donalds, a business-friendly conservative whose congressional district runs along the Gulf Coast of Southwest Florida, is sympathetic to their agenda. But he has maintained some ambiguity.

In private conversations and questionnaires, Donalds has endorsed a light-touch federal AI standard, a key priority for Leading the Future. And his wife, conservative activist Erika Donalds, said in an Aug. 8 appearance on Fox Business that Washington should “get out of the way” so AI companies can quickly expand, echoing an industry talking point.

But he has also privately and publicly supported DeSantis’s approach, arguing states need to step in to protect children from harms linked to AI, an argument advanced by Public First, which advocates for state-by-state AI protections.

Leading the Future, which has pledged to spend over $125 million to help industry-friendly candidates prevail in November’s congressional races, announced plans to spend $5 million on Donalds’ behalf in February. Ads from Leading the Future’s Republican super PAC avoid any mention of AI, instead focusing on Trump’s endorsement of the Republican congressman.

Leading the Future spokesperson Jesse Hunt said Donalds “understands that Florida’s future depends on embracing American innovation.”

Public First, which says it has raised $80 million to support candidates who favor stricter AI oversight, has been spending millions to neutralize or counteract Leading the Future’s influence. Public First Action, a dark-money group backed by Anthropic and other tech executives who favor AI safety guardrails, began spending in support of Donalds in mid-July. The group’s ad lauds Donalds for “standing with Florida and against Washington” in the fight to protect children from AI harms.

Former Utah Congressman Chris Stewart, who leads Public First’s Republican super PAC, said Donalds “has been unequivocal that states should have a role to play there, especially absent the federal government being more urgent in trying to lead on this.”

Gates McGavick, communications director for the Donalds campaign, pushed back on the idea that the wave of financial support could influence the candidate in favor of either side of the AI regulation battle.

“Byron Donalds answers to no one but the people of Florida,” McGavick said.

Leading the Future and Public First are spending on the same candidates in a handful of smaller races across the country, including in Oklahoma and New Jersey. But the two AI super PACs are competing in South Florida’s Atlantic Coast 25th Congressional District, where Public First is supporting former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer in his Republican primary while Leading the Future supports his potential general-election opponent, Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz.

Sullivan, with Issue One, said the spending is escalating because candidates elected this year will likely control the future of how AI is regulated as voters demand action on the emerging technology.

“This is part of a broader effort to shape the political landscape before the most consequential AI-related decisions have been made,” Sullivan said.

Photo: Erika Donalds, a conservative and pro-AI activist and wife of candidate Byron Donalds. (Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg)