# AI-made attack ads flood the US midterms, and the two parties split over them

URL: https://ai-pulse.aglaganova.com/blog/ai-made-attack-ads-flood-the-us-midterms-and-the-two-parties-split-over-them
Published: 2026-10-26
Author: Roman Aglaganov, Full-stack developer
Category: Policy
Region: North America
Tags: deepfakes, regulation

> Campaigns have spent more than $137 million on ads made at least partly with AI this cycle, up from under $50,000 in 2024, and most of it is Republican. Democrats are betting that synthetic videos will backfire. There is still no federal rule.

![Illustration: a wall of grey screen rectangles, one showing a black face outline split down the middle, with a red edge on one half](https://ai-pulse.aglaganova.com/api/media/file/ai-ads-1.png)

The US midterm elections on 3 November are the first in which AI-generated political ads are everywhere. The Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks election advertising, estimates that more than $137 million has been spent this cycle on ads generated or enhanced with AI, against less than $50,000 in the 2024 elections. It has identified 220 such ads and says that is almost certainly an undercount.

## A partisan split

Most of it comes from one side. Wesleyan says 81% of the AI ads it identified were sponsored by Republican candidates or groups and 12% by Democrats. Measured by money, Republicans account for 88% of the spending, around $120 million, The Washington Post reported on 24 October.

Examples include a Ted Cruz-aligned PAC’s ad showing Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in a fabricated family photo, and Republican ads portraying the Texas Senate candidate James Talarico as a Bible-defacing radical. Talarico has answered with an ad of his own: “I don’t have to use AI, because the truth about Ken Paxton is bad enough.” Another of his ads carries the line “Made by humans, not AI.”

Republicans have defended the approach. When the party’s Senate committee posted an AI video of Chuck Schumer in October 2025, built on a real quote, its communications director wrote: “AI is here and not going anywhere. Adapt & win or pearl clutch & lose.”

## The voters and the rules

Democratic strategists told the Post they think voters’ worries about cost of living, corporate power and authenticity outweigh any edge from synthetic video. Polling supports the caution: in a survey by the AAPC Foundation, around nine in ten likely voters said using AI to make a video of an opponent saying something they never said was “completely unacceptable”.

There is no federal requirement for AI political ads to carry a label, although some states require disclosures or restrict deepfakes, and researchers say most AI ads carry no label.

## Why it matters

Cheap, realistic video changes what an attack ad can show. The bigger risk may not be any single fake but the doubt they create: when voters know any clip could be invented, real footage loses its force too. Whether the Democrats’ bet pays off on 3 November will shape how both parties use AI in 2028.

## Sources

- [The Washington Post: Democrats are betting GOP’s AI ads on Talarico and others will backfire](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/10/24/why-democrats-are-shunning-ai-videos-ads/)
- [Yahoo News (The Washington Post): AI ad mocks Talarico as Bible-defacing radical. Democrats bet it will backfire.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/ai-ad-mocks-talarico-bible-125233797.html)
- [Bangkok Post (AFP): AI-generated ad blitz distorts US midterms](https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/3343785/aigenerated-ad-blitz-distorts-us-midterms)
- [NPR: A GOP attack ad deepfakes Chuck Schumer with AI](https://www.npr.org/2025/10/17/nx-s1-5578279/ai-schumer-gop-attack-ad)