It was only a few days after announcing his first run for Congress, and Assemblyman Alex Bores was already gathering big money from donors.

At a Midtown Manhattan restaurant, Mr. Bores was a co-host of a fund-raiser that attracted a room full of software engineers and experts in artificial intelligence, many of whom support an A.I.-related bill passed by the New York State Legislature in June that was sponsored by Mr. Bores.

The event on Oct. 30 netted nearly $250,000 in political contributions, according to four people familiar with the matter. The money did not go to Mr. Bores — it went to the re-election campaign of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has until Dec. 31 to decide whether to sign, modify or veto Mr. Bores’s bill.

It was unusual for a young second-term assemblyman to host such an event for the governor, and even more atypical that Mr. Bores would have a bill before the governor, according to Blair Horner, the senior policy adviser at the New York Public Interest Research Group.

“There are no real restrictions on those who want to make donations who have business before the governor,” Mr. Horner said. “New York’s system has improved, but it’s still the Wild West in terms of fund-raising.”

The campaign windfall to Ms. Hochul signals the importance of the A.I. bill, as lawmakers around the country grapple with what type of guardrails might be needed for a rapidly advancing technology. It also underscores the willingness of stakeholders to spend heavily to influence potential legislation.

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