Campaign ads featuring AI-generated clips and images have become widespread in the 2026 elections, with attack ads placing candidates in fictitious and compromising situations in a largely unregulated environment that is warping the norms of political campaigns while blurring the line between truth and fiction, according to Axios.
The proliferation of artificial intelligence in political advertising raises fundamental questions about the appropriate scope of government regulation in an arena protected by First Amendment considerations, even as some campaigns voluntarily disclose AI use without any legal requirement to do so. Democrats have indicated they want to mandate such disclosures if they retake control of Congress in November, a proposal that would represent new federal oversight of political speech.
Attack Ads Target Texas Candidates
The latest example highlighted by Axios is an attack ad against Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico from a President Trump-aligned group called Citizens for Sanity. The ad depicts Talarico in a dress singing an abridged version of "Favorite Things" about transgender children. Axios said Talarico has been a frequent target of this practice. The National Republican Senatorial Committee used AI in March to depict Talarico reciting past social media posts; the posts were real, but Talarico reading them was not.
Axios said the Texas Senate race has been a hotbed of AI use, with Republicans John Cornyn and Ken Paxton and Democrat Jasmine Crockett all using it to some extent in the primaries. In Georgia, gubernatorial candidate Brad Raffensperger used AI in multiple ads to depict his GOP primary opponents wildly shooting guns in the air and fighting each other with pugil sticks. A new ad from another Georgia gubernatorial candidate, Burt Jones, is entirely AI-generated and features depictions of his GOP primary runoff opponent Rick Jackson shoveling money into a furnace and inflating a hot air balloon with his breath.
Bipartisan Adoption of Technology
Axios also said AI is not just being used by Republicans. In Texas, Crockett used AI to inflate the crowd size in one of her ads and posted an AI video to social media of herself, Trump and others as babies. In New York City, Democrat-turned-independent Andrew Cuomo used AI in the mayoral election in an ad that portrayed him performing various jobs, including subway conductor, stockbroker, stagehand and window washer. In Maryland, a new ad from Democrat Harry Dunn in the 5th congressional district included a brief shot of AI-generated men in suits reading "Crypto" and "AIPAC" tossing golden basketballs into a carnival free-throw game.
The GOP primary in Kentucky's 4th district also saw widespread AI use by both sides, including a "throuple" ad containing deepfakes of Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., dining, checking into a hotel and holding hands with Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Pro-Massie spots used AI to depict an elephant with Trump-like hair and a MAGA cap, and Ed Gallrein, Massie's challenger, abandoning Trump in a foxhole.
Why This Matters:
The widespread adoption of AI-generated content in political advertising demonstrates how rapidly evolving technology can outpace existing regulatory frameworks, creating a marketplace where campaigns make individual decisions about disclosure and ethical boundaries. The bipartisan nature of AI use in campaigns suggests that any regulatory response will need to balance legitimate concerns about voter deception with constitutional protections for political speech and the practical reality that both parties have embraced the technology. The current voluntary disclosure system allows campaigns to self-regulate based on market incentives and voter response, though Democratic proposals for mandatory disclosure would shift that responsibility to federal oversight. How voters and the market respond to AI-generated content may ultimately prove more effective than government mandates in establishing norms for this emerging technology in political discourse.