GOP deepfakes Senate candidate in midterm attack ad

AI deepfake video has crossed a threshold: it's now cheap, convincing, and organized enough to be a standard tool in national party campaign operations — and existing law is nowhere near ready for it.

• –The NRSC, a national GOP campaign body, is now routinely producing AI deepfake ads — this isn't a fringe actor but an official party organization
• –Texas passed a 2019 anti-deepfake law, but its 30-day pre-election window means it doesn't apply now, leaving a massive legal gap throughout campaign season
• –The ad fabricates new statements the candidate never made while combining them with real quotes — a hybrid approach that blurs the line between parody and disinformation
• –AI video generation has matured fast enough that a minute-long, realistic-looking deepfake of a real person is now apparently a routine campaign production task
• –No federal law specifically prohibits AI deepfakes in political advertising, making this a preview of what every contested race in 2026 may look like