AI industry taps January 6 operative to run $100 million campaign to boost MAGA candidates
The AI industry has tapped Taylor Budowich, a key operative in the effort to undermine the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, to lead a new group dedicated to boosting Republican candidates in the 2026 midterms. The group, called Innovation Council, is reportedly planning to spend $100 million.
Before the Innovation Council, AI companies and top executives had already committed nearly $200 million to influence the 2026 elections. President Trump’s allies, however, were reportedly irked that these funds were not being spent exclusively to promote his agenda. The Innovation Council — and Budowich’s involvement — are designed to placate those concerns.
“President Trump has made it clear, America will win the AI race against China, period. He built the framework, he’s leading from the front, and this organization exists to make sure he doesn’t fight that battle alone,” Budowich told Fox News. “The cavalry is coming to back up the policymakers who stand with the president and will hold accountable the ones who don’t.”
The group also quickly gained the endorsement of David Sacks, the conservative billionaire who recently stepped down as Trump’s AI czar. “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 influx of cash comes at a critical time for Trump. The Iran War, the sputtering economy, a partial government shutdown, and the Epstein files have driven his approval rating to historic lows. With the November elections fast approaching, some Republicans are fearing a rout — with control of both the House and Senate in play.
Now, Budowich, described by Trump advisor Stephen Miller as “one of the true MAGA faithful,” has been handed a boatload of AI cash to reverse this dynamic. Budowich has shown a willingness to go to extreme lengths to advance Trump’s political interests.
Budowich was a senior advisor to Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, serving as chief of staff to Donald Trump Jr. After Trump lost the election, Budowich worked closely with Trump Jr. and his then-girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, to overturn the results.
Specifically, Budowich directed over $200,000 for radio and social media advertisements to build the crowd on January 6, 2021. The money was funneled through a dark-money nonprofit.
Budowich sued the Congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack to keep his bank records secret and protect the source of the cash. But Budowich lost the case, and the money was traced back to Julie Jenkins Fancelli, a top Trump fundraiser and heir to the Publix supermarket fortune.
In a text exchange with Caroline Wren, who was also involved in “Stop the Steal” organizing, Budowich said that Trump needed to “end his speech [outside the White House on January 6, 2021] by saying something like ‘Now go march on the capital [sic]. march to save America.’”
The text was uncovered by the Congressional investigation, and Budowich was asked about it during a deposition.
During the 2024 election, Budowich founded MAGA Inc, the main Super PAC supporting Trump, and Securing American Greatness, its associated dark-money non-profit group. After Trump prevailed in November 2024, Budowich joined the White House as Deputy Chief of Staff. He left that position in September 2025 and is now running the Innovation Council.
Thus far, the Innovation Council has a barebones public website featuring materials created by the Trump White House. But Popular Information found that the group created a series of pages, later taken offline, that describe concerns about AI job displacement, data center energy use, and safety as “hoaxes.”
The pages were indexed by the Bing search engine.
Despite the vast sums of money involved, there is no information about the Innovation Council’s donors. This is by design. The Innovation Council is currently organized as a nonprofit, so it is not required to disclose its donors or file with the Federal Election Commission.
Budowich has experience using complex organizational structures to keep donors anonymous while maintaining operational flexibility.
The AI industry’s “bipartisan” spending also leans Republican
While other new pro-AI PACs claim to be bipartisan, some are still tilted towards Republicans.
Leading the Future, for example, which has raised over $125 million, indicated it would “back candidates of both parties who support a national framework for artificial intelligence regulations.” The PAC hired Josh Vlasto, who has worked for Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Zac Moffatt, a prominent Republican operative.
The PAC, however, has received many large donations from prominent Trump allies, including $12.5 million each from Andreessen Horowitz cofounders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz and $12.5 million each from OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman and his wife Anna. Andreessen and Horowitz both donated millions to a super PAC supporting Trump in the 2024 election. Last week, Trump appointed Andreessen to his “President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.” In September, Brockman and his wife gave $25 million to MAGA Inc.
As of mid-March, Leading the Future has spent around $2.9 million supporting Republicans and around $2.5 million supporting Democrats through its Republican and Democratic affiliates, American Mission and Think Big. But Think Big has also spent $2.3 million attacking Alex Bores, a Democrat running for Congress in New York. The Democrats the PAC supported, Jesse Jackson Jr. and Melissa Bean, are running in historically blue Illinois districts, where it is unlikely that Republican candidates will win. (Jackson lost the Democratic primary in March.)
The PAC has also pledged to spend $5 million in support of Representative Byron Donalds’ (R-FL) campaign for Florida Governor. This was reportedly an effort to solidify its relationship with the White House.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has also started multiple new pro-AI super PACs. One of the PACs, Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across (Meta) California, will focus its efforts in California, while the American Technology Excellence Project (ATEP) will focus on other states. The company gave $20 million to the California PAC and $45 million to the ATEP.
Like Leading the Future, Meta has also indicated that the PACs will support bipartisan candidates. But so far, the ATEP appears to favor Republicans. Company representatives told the New York Times in February that the company’s spending would start in Illinois and Texas. The New York Times reported that the company had started two additional Super PACs, Forge the Future Project and Making Our Tomorrow, which are expected to be funded by the ATEP. According to campaign finance reports, as of February 23, the company’s Forge the Future Project PAC, which supports Republicans, has spent around $1.3 million in Texas. In Illinois, the company donated $750,000 to its Making Our Tomorrow PAC in February, which has been spending in support of Democratic candidates.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, was named to Trump’s new President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology last week. Meta also donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
Dark Money exposed by Judd. We are living in a period of greed that’s not new to Our country but the scope is far greater now. Keep shining the light Judd! Time will tell Money can’t buy me love!
“The cavalry is coming to back up the policymakers who stand with the president and will hold accountable the ones who don’t.”
What does this even mean? Is this a threat to Republicans who don't toe the line on AI? It's irksome that Budowich is able to influence elections at all following his involvement in January 6th, but evidently "accountability" is just a theoretical concept, ever-changing, to be defined by the user in the hellscape we call American politics.