U.S. political ads have officially entered their AI slop era.
Political campaigns and groups have spent more than $137 million airing ads created at least partly with AI tools ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, according to new data from the Wesleyan Media Project. That’s a massive jump from the 2024 election cycle.
“AI is making its way into the 2026 midterms in a big way this year. For comparison, we identified less than $50,000 in spending on AI-generated ads in the 2024 cycle,” Erika Franklin Fowler, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, said in a news release. “Much of the AI use is not disclosed through any type of disclaimer.”
So far, the research group has identified 220 political ads across 34 states that were created with AI this year. But the actual number is likely higher, since it can be difficult to determine whether AI was used and only 30 states require AI disclosures for political ads.
The group found that just 27% of the ads included a disclaimer informing viewers that ads featured AI-generated content.
Unsurprisingly, Republicans are leading the charge. Republican candidates and groups accounted for 81% of the identified AI-generated ads and a whopping 88% of the spending. Democrats, meanwhile, sponsored just 12% of the ads.
One possible reason for the gap is that Democrats are more concerned about how voters might react to their use of AI, particularly as members of the party push for stronger regulations on the technology.
“Democratic candidates and groups face more reputational risk when using a tool that they are arguing should be regulated,” Travis N. Ridout, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, told The New York Times.
Some Democrats are even making their opposition to AI-generated political ads part of their campaigns. For example, an ad from James Talarico, the Democratic candidate running for Senate in Texas, ends with the words “Made by humans. Not AI.”
Meanwhile, nearly half of the AI-generated ads identified by researchers feature deepfake depictions of real politicians. Many attempt to connect candidates in local races to prominent national Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
One of the more prolific users of AI-generated political ads is Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for governor of New York. Since April, his campaign has reportedly posted at least 22 AI-generated ads on social media.
In August, the New York State Democratic Party even filed a complaint with the state’s Board of Elections, accusing Blakeman’s campaign of violating a law requiring disclosures on political ads containing deceptive AI-generated content.
Blakeman’s campaign has pushed back, arguing that satirical ads do not require disclosures
Not all of these AI-generated ads necessarily involve deepfakes designed to deceive voters. The New York Times points out that some campaigns are also using AI to create stock footage and cut production costs.
Still, with the midterms just over two weeks away, voters can likely expect even more AI-generated political ads to continue to flood their TV screens and social media feeds.
