Van Hilleary, Johnny Garrett Turn to Deepfake Ads in 6th…

In the race for Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District, Republican candidates Van Hilleary and Johnny Garrett have adopted a controversial campaign strategy by utilizing artificial intelligence to generate misleading advertisements. Despite the recent implementation of the Transparency for Deepfakes in Political Advertising Act on July 1, which requires disclosures for synthetic political media, neither candidate included such warnings in their promotional materials. The candidates justified their exclusion by noting that the law applies to state-level campaigns rather than federal races, leaving a regulatory gap for their congressional bids.

What happened

The campaign ads utilized advanced synthesis techniques to depict candidates and public figures in fabricated scenarios. Van Hilleary’s advertisement featured artificial video footage of himself posing alongside President Donald Trump, despite the president not having issued an endorsement in the district. The same ad included synthetic depictions of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani walking through city rubble to support claims about the candidate's platform.

Johnny Garrett’s campaign also utilized deepfake technology to attack Hilleary. One of Garrett’s ads featured a fabricated video of Hilleary driving a campaign van that eventually sinks into a swamp, while another segment of the campaign portrayed Garrett himself in manipulated settings. These included artificial clips of Garrett standing with drag queens, holding a framed photograph of Kamala Harris, and celebrating at a pride festival. These portrayals were intended to challenge Garrett’s conservative credentials, which stands in contrast to his actual legislative record regarding DEI policies and his endorsement by anti-transgender sports advocate Riley Gaines. The use of these AI-generated clips highlights the growing challenge of regulating synthetic media in political discourse, particularly when candidates exploit jurisdictional boundaries to avoid transparency requirements.