AI is supercharging political ad wars. But viral doesn’t mean victorious

Artificial intelligence is dramatically lowering the cost of political advertising, allowing campaigns to churn out attack ads, memes and other targeted messages at a pace that would have been prohibitively expensive just a few years ago.

In the political ad wars, campaign operatives can now use generative AI to produce in minutes or hours what once required days by a team of writers, voice talent, video shoots and production teams.

The shift is turning political creative from an expensive campaign asset into something much more affordable and closer to disposable content, potentially giving candidates and outside groups the ability to flood voters with more messages.

While the exact number is difficult to identify, the ad-tracking firm AdImpact had identified 29 campaign ads in federal and gubernatorial contests that disclosed using AI content, as of two weeks ago. Meanwhile, the Wesleyan Media Project, which also counted ads that did not make AI disclosures, has identified at least 164 AI-influenced ads this cycle.

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But the jury is still out on whether the use of AI for campaign messaging can help produce the ultimate objective: an election victory.

"It certainly allows you to produce more content in varying styles and more cost effective," veteran Republican consultant Jesse Hunt told Fox News Digital, as he pointed to the creative and economic appeals of using AI in political advertising.

Democratic strategist Chris Moyer said that "AI gives campaigns more tools for less cost. So there is a democratizing of the tools that campaigns used to have to spend valuable resources on....You can get access to things with a smaller budget."

Will Ritter, a longtime Republican ad maker and media and political strategist, told Fox News Digital that the creative advertising and political strategy agency he co-founded, Poolhouse, "went from last cycle doing basically doing nothing with AI to most of our ads now have some AI component."

"The good news is that it’s really cool technology. It allows a lot of people to make stuff. You can make almost anything," Ritter said.

But he added, "You still need to able to know what you’re doing with the tools."

Pointing to his agency, Ritter noted "we have professionals who know how to use and integrate them, and they also know the point of this is to have a good ad that can be done faster and cheaper now but still maintains the main point, which is to communicate a message, not to show off cool visual tech."

Campaign veterans say that if you're not using AI to produce messaging content and other key tasks, including voter outreach, you are already behind the eight ball, and that will only increase going forward.

"We are running the most organized and sophisticated congressional campaign in the country, and we utilize every legitimate tool that helps our team improve productivity. Any campaign that doesn’t would be foolish," Ciro Riccardi, a top campaign adviser for Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, told Fox News Digital.

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Lawler is running for re-election in a key swing district in New York City's northern suburbs that Democrats are targeting as they aim to win back the House majority. Lawler's campaign is one of hundreds of campaigns across the country that have reported spending on AI technology vendors in their Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosure reports.

While spending by campaigns on AI is expected to increase, Riccardi noted that Lawler's 2026 re-election team will "spend more money on pizza for volunteers" than it will on AI tools.

But are AI-generated ads helping candidates win at the ballot box?

Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve of Massachusetts grabbed attention in February with an AI-generated radio ad that used an AI-generated version of Gov. Maura Healey's voice in which the Democratic governor made disparaging comments about her administration and the economy.

"We have one of the highest electricity rates in the nation," the AI-generated voice said in the spot. "Thanks to me slapping on excessive fees to fund my climate agenda."

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The deepfake - an AI-generated video, image, or audio recording created or altered using artificial intelligence to make a real person appear to say or do something they never actually did -  raised questions about the legal limits of AI technology in elections. Thirty-one states have enacted laws regulating political deepfakes, but the Federal Election Commission has not implemented any AI rulemaking.

The attention surrounding the Shortsleeve ad did appear to boost the business executive and former acting general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in his bid to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination. He was defeated in the September primary in a landslide by former medical device executive Mike Minogue.

In Los Angeles, reality TV star and online influencer-turned mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt used AI-generated videos that went viral to significantly boost his visibility and his campaign's online momentum.

The videos, which Pratt shared and reposted, humorously and dramatically portrayed him as a superhero saving a dystopian, burning Los Angeles, while depicting incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass and other officials as villains.

The videos grabbed millions of views on social media platforms like X, TikTok, and Instagram, and appeared to help to turn Pratt from a longshot mayoral candidate into one of the three top contenders.

But the AI-generated messaging wasn't enough to help Pratt, a Republican who ran for mayor as an independent, advance to the general election in the blue-leaning city. Pratt was eliminated as he came in third in the city's June 2 primary.

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The National Republican Senatorial Committee earlier this year targeted Democratic Senate nominee in Texas state Rep. James Talarico with a ad showing an AI-generated version of the candidate reading controversial old social media posts.

Meanwhile, an AI-generated image of former Rep. Mike Rogers, the GOP nominee in battleground Michigan's Senate race, as a super hero figure rescuing people from a collapsing building, went viral.

Whether such AI-generated messaging in the Michigan and Texas Senate races made an impact is uncertain, and the electoral outcomes in the two showdowns won't be determined until next month.

Campaign veterans point to positives and negatives when it comes to AI-generated content.

"AI has really revolutionized the industry and the groups and companies, I think like, like ours that are taking advantage of the tools and are willing to take risks will be the ones that have the most success," Ritter said.

"There are so many things we can do now – save time," Ritter added. "It’s a huge opportunity but you still need people who can use the tools correctly and you have to some restraint."

But he said, "Spencer Pratt made some unbelievable cool ads we’ve never seen before. They went super viral. Then he came in third."

"The people that win tend have a message that resonates and is communicated clearly and consistently and just getting attention doesn’t do the whole job," Ritter emphasized.

Moyer warned that as AI "becomes more widespread, there's going to be a lot more cynicism and doubt that ads are actually real. The tactic used to be 'just put opponents in their own words to make an ad against them.' Now I think a lot of voters are really skeptical - 'did he or she really say that or are they making it up.'"

Hunt, a veteran of presidential and statewide campaigns, highlighted that "authenticity is incredibly important."

He said that while AI has leveled to playfield to a degree, campaign ads have "got to feel as real as possible and you do not sacrifice that by going the most cost effective route because the cheapest does not always mean the most persuasive, the most meaningful, the most memorable."