Trump-endorsed Byron Donalds splits with the president on AI policy
Byron Donalds has built his campaign around Donald Trump’s endorsement, but he’s willing to split with the president on at least one issue: He said in Miami Monday that he’d rather see state-level regulation of artificial intelligence and data centers than the national policy framework Trump wants.
“If you’re going to talk about areas of disagreement, one where we have a slight disagreement is on AI policy,” Donald said. “I think that the states do need to lead when it comes to setting a regulatory framework.”
Its one of the first times Donalds has publicly disagreed with the president since Trump gave his campaign an early boost last February and largely cleared the Republican primary field. No candidate has come close to Donalds in polls since then.
His comments come as AI expansion and hyperscale data centers have become divisive issue in the Republican Party in Florida. Donalds’ opponents have repeatedly tried to knock him for supporting the expansion of AI data centers in the state.
His opponent and former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner said last month that Donalds is “racing to turn Florida into the epicenter of AI infrastructure at any cost. That’s not happening on my watch!”
Donalds has received at least $5 million from the AI industry-backed political committee Leading the Future.
Donalds said Monday he wants to be able to set state-level regulations allowing people to protect their name, image and likeness from being used in AI-generated content. That comes in sharp contrast with Trump’s desire to preempt states from regulating the industry at all.
Trump issued an executive order last year declaring that “AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation. But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative.” The order “forbid” states from passing regulations that conflict with Trump’s proposed AI policy.
Donalds said he’s splitting with the president on state-level AI regulation to avoid having to rely on Congress. “It’s so difficult getting good policy through that place,” he said.
“What we don’t want to see, and I think this is why the president is really trying to get a federal framework done, what we don’t want to see is California leading the way,” he said.
His comments come as AI expansion and hyperscale data centers have become divisive issue in the Republican Party in Florida.
Donalds’ position puts him in line with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has publicly opposed Trump’s preemption on state-level regulation for months, and tried to push through an “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights.”
House Speaker Daniel Perez blocked the effort, backing Trump’s position on centralized AI policy instead. Donalds said of the AI Bill of Rights that if he becomes governor, “We’re gonna look at that policy again next year.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 5:05 PM.
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