AI in the Upcoming Midterm Elections

By: Dominic Schalk | Published on: October 25, 2026

Pictured Above: A frame of an AI-generated Donald Trump dancing front of the Statue of Liberty, for Constantino’s AI-generated music video, titled “TRUMP”

“I’m increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure we don’t do something very foolish. I mean with artificial intelligence, we’re summoning the demon” – Elon Musk, American businessman.

In Sept. 2026, local Michigan newspaper, the Lansing City Pulse, asked the statewide candidates for Senator and Governor to speak directly to their readers, offering all of them an op-ed slot. The Democratic candidates for Governor and Senate, Jocelyn Benson and Abdul El-Sayed, wrote about their respective visions for the future of Michigan. Benson told an anecdote about a man at her town hall who saw his insurance premium triple and then promised to lower costs across daily life by fighting against Big Pharma and the tariffs enacted by President Trump. El-Sayed wrote about a young boy at a town hall who asked him why he chose to run for Senate, and El-Sayed responded by saying “you," writing the rest of his op-ed about his two children and how he wants them to grow up in a world where they are not constrained by corporations and their interests.

John James, the Republican nominee for Governor, said he would be able to provide a response, and then failed to do so. Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee for Senate, responded with the following image:

Instead of a genuine effort at communication, an ostensibly serious political campaign forecasted to receive millions of votes opted to submit an AI comic of their candidate made into a bodybuilder, giving him the nickname of “Buff Mike.”

The well-read, middle class and middle-aged readers of the Lansing City Pulse are supposedly meant to be convinced by this kindergarten facsimile of a politician. Rogers’ blatantly AI-generated comic is just one of hundreds of AI-based political ads hitting the airwaves and print across the United States, in anticipation of the 2026 midterm elections. According to the Wesleyan Media Project, a non-partisan election advertising tracker, over $80M has been spent on these ads, with approximately 80% of these ads being funded by Republican candidates and their backers.

From deepfakes of Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico in a dress , to NY-21 Republican House candidate Anthony Constantino’s fully AI-generated Trump music video, AI has been the lowest common denominator of midterm advertisements this year. The world of AI advertisements is, for all intents and purposes, the wild west.

AI deepfake of Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico in a dress.

There is no serious federal regulation on deepfakes and AI political ads in general (wholly unsurprising, given their use by Republican operatives and the current Republican trifecta in government), with only 31 states putting a law in place requiring a disclaimer of AI generated advertisement content.

However, is there a downside to these ads? Even though it is exceedingly difficult to ascribe any definitive values to the idiosyncratic American median voter, there is a significant correlation between losing campaigns and AI usage.

Rogers’ campaign is currently down in the polling averages to El-Sayed in the traditional swing-state of Michigan, Ken Paxton (James Talarico’s opponent) is down in the polling averages in the Republican heartland of Texas, and Anthony Constantino is neck-and-neck in a Trump +21 district, an impressive attempt at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The more difficult question is whether this is a conscious punishment from voters regarding AI usage, or is it that underperforming/disappointing campaigns are simply more likely to use it, given its ease of access and it being the path of least resistance?

As the midterms inch closer, the true impact of these AI advertisements will be revealed, both at the ballot box and in election post-mortems. Although these AI ads are meant to convince lower propensity voters, in a midterm electorate, it is highly unlikely for these voters to be energized enough to vote, particularly for Republican candidates, in what seems like an impending Democratic wave.