Sarasota County Property Appraiser Bill Furst chairs a political committee that has moved millions of dollars from wealthy supporters of artificial intelligence, including the co-founder of Open AI, the company behind ChatGPT, to Byron Donalds’ candidacy for Florida governor.
Furst heads the political action committee American Mission Florida, which filed registration paperwork with the state in February, listing its primary address as a Staples store in Tallahassee. A month later, the PAC put $2 million toward pro-Donalds advertisements, according to Florida Politics.
Furst’s committee is part of a broader multi-million dollar effort by Silicon Valley executives to bankroll candidates who back AI advancement. Its only funding has been a $3 million contribution on March 4 from Leading The Future, a national super PAC that said it will spend $5 million to boost Donalds’ campaign as part of a national effort to fund pro-AI candidates.
Furst, a relatively low-level constitutional officer who has overseen property valuations and tax rolls since taking office in 2009, did not respond to phone calls or text messages seeking comment.
Leading The Future also did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
It is unclear why the Sarasota County property appraiser is involved in the effort to boost Donalds. Nothing in Furst’s ethics disclosure forms indicates close ties to the AI industry, American Mission Florida appears to be the only political committee he chairs, and he is neither a major donor nor known to be closely involved in political campaigns.
Although Florida law limits the amount of money individuals or corporations can give to campaigns, political committees are unconstrained by such regulations and can use the money to fund candidate advertising.
Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, said committees often move money around among one another to obfuscate which donors are supporting which candidates.
“You’d have to keep following it back to try and figure out which individuals or corporations behind these PACs actually gave them money,” Jewett said. “In some ways it's a form of political money laundering to make it more difficult to trace.”
Donalds, who represents Naples in the U.S. House of Representatives, has emerged as the clear favorite in the GOP primary to become Florida’s next governor, following his early endorsement from President Donald Trump. He has a commanding lead in the polls and campaign fundraising – the $22 million he’s raised through the first quarter of 2026 outpaces all of his Republican opposition combined.
As the construction of new AI data centers becomes a hot topic across the country, Donalds has indicated support for building more in the Sunshine State, saying that “Florida should lead” the way on AI.
That push is already reaching the Suncoast — and not without controversy.
On March 24, the DeSoto County Commission approved an AI data center to be built outside of Arcadia, at the site of a former natural gas plant. The 35,134-square-foot facility, fronted by a company called DeSoto County Industrial Park, will feature a 1.3-million-gallon water storage tank. Its approval was passed by the county board despite local opposition, which mirrors nationwide apprehension by communities.
The project has raised concerns among some residents about whether local infrastructure can support the demands of a large-scale data facility, particularly water use and the long-term impacts on the rural community.
The website for Leading The Future, the national PAC funding Furst’s committee, is sparse, but the group describes itself as “focused on advancing a positive, forward-looking agenda for AI innovation” by endorsing pro-AI candidates.
Although the most recent filings to the Federal Election Commission show Leading The Future has raised about $50 million, Politico reported on Wednesday that the group has hauled $140 million since it was founded in August.
The firm is primarily funded by Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm in California that invests in major AI companies such as OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT. Andreessen Horowitz gave $25 million to Leading The Future, while its founders Marc Andreessen and Benjamin Horowitz each gave $12.5 million.
Another $25 million came from Greg Brockman, the co-founder and president of OpenAI, and his wife, Anna.
Andreessen, an adviser to President Donald Trump, has a listed net worth of $1.9 billion, according to the Forbes Billionaire List. In recent years, he has become an outspoken conservative and AI evangelist, writing a controversial blog in 2023 called “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto,” on why AI advancement was vital “to ensure the techno-capital upward spiral continues forever.”
Donalds has also been endorsed by tech mogul and former Trump adviser Elon Musk. His campaign spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.
This story was produced by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Learn more at suncoastsearchlight.org.
