Voters Are Being Inundated by a Barrage of AI-Generated…
Political campaigns are increasingly utilizing AI-generated deepfake advertisements to smear opponents and influence voters in local and congressional races
- Incident date
- Jul 2026
- Target
- Steve Ehlmann, Bill Eigel, Thomas Massie, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar
AI-generated deepfake advertisements are increasingly being utilized in political campaigns to target opponents through fabricated videos and audio. These synthetic media tactics are disrupting democratic processes by presenting misleading portrayals of candidates to voters.
What happened
In St. Charles, Missouri, a county executive race saw candidate Jason Law release an AI-generated video depicting his rivals, Steve Ehlmann and Bill Eigel, as co-conspirators in a plot against voters. The ad used AI-generated voices to make the candidates appear to admit to tax-related failures. Law, who also appeared as an AI-approximation, stated he was inspired by similar smear ads used by Spencer Pratt in a Los Angeles mayoral race.
Similar tactics emerged in May during a congressional race between Thomas Massie and Ed Gallrein. Independent PACs funded AI commercials targeting both candidates. One notable deepfake depicted Massie in fabricated CCTV footage entering a hotel with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, falsely claiming he was in a romantic relationship with them. Despite Massie’s criticism of the ads as an insult to voters, the campaign proved effective for Gallrein, who won with 54 percent of the vote.