Conservative Super PAC Launches $10M Ad Campaign Using AI-Generated Video of Texas Senate Candidate James Talarico

A conservative super PAC has opened a $10 million advertising campaign against Texas Senate Democratic candidate James Talarico with a 30-second spot built around AI-generated video depicting him as a doctor performing gender-transition surgery on a young girl, according to the New York Post.

The ad, produced by American Principles Project PAC, shows a girl playing in a field before cutting to a fabricated image of Talarico in surgical garb standing over an operating table. A narrator describes puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and sex-change surgeries as things the "trans industry" pushes on "confused children," then urges viewers to vote for Republican Ken Paxton on November 3.

The group has plans to get involved in other battleground contests, including Wisconsin and Georgia.

What Talarico actually says

Talarico's campaign disputes the ad's core claim. Spokesperson JT Enis called it "an AI deepfake" and said flatly that "James does not support gender reassignment surgery for minors." The campaign directed the Post to video of Talarico stating that position himself, on the record.

Enis went further, calling the ad part of "the rot at the core of our broken, corrupt politics" and accusing Paxton and his backers of "using shameful scare tactics and disgustingly using children as political props" because they lack policy answers of their own. No source reviewed here disputes that Talarico has publicly opposed minors receiving such surgeries.

Why this matters for the AI question

Whatever one thinks about gender medicine policy, the use of AI-generated video to depict a real political candidate performing a specific act he says he opposes raises distinct questions. Traditional ads splice real footage, cherry-pick quotes, or exaggerate a record. This one manufactures a scene that never happened, using a synthetic likeness of a named, living candidate. Whether any law addresses this particular use of AI-generated imagery in a political ad is not addressed in the reporting reviewed here.

The politics behind the tactic

The ad strategy echoes a playbook Republicans believe worked in 2024. Ads hammering then-Vice President Kamala Harris over transgender policy, capped by the line "Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you," were credited by California Gov. Gavin Newsom as politically devastating for Harris, who went on to lose the White House.

Republicans clearly believe the same message can work against Talarico. Rather than relying on real footage or Talarico's actual votes and statements, the PAC generated an entirely fictional scene. GOP operatives have also worked to cast Talarico as out of touch with Texas, pointing to his past comments — including a 2021 remark suggesting "God is non-binary" — and his opposition, while in the Texas legislature, to bills restricting transgender athletes in girls' sports and to legislation requiring schools to inform parents about a child's transition.

The race itself

Texas has historically been a Republican stronghold, but Talarico has proven remarkably competitive against Paxton, the state's attorney general. He currently holds roughly a 1-point edge over Paxton in the RealClearPolitics polling average, according to the Post's reporting.

Paxton brings considerable baggage into the race. He was indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, a case that remains part of his political history. The Texas House impeached him in 2023 on allegations including obstructing justice in that securities case, misappropriating public resources, making false statements against whistleblowers, and giving preferential treatment to a donor. The Texas Senate acquitted him 16–14. He has also faced allegations of infidelity.

None of that baggage is mentioned in the PAC's ad, which is entirely focused on portraying Talarico as an extremist on transgender issues rather than contrasting his record with Paxton's.

What's unresolved

Whether the ad continues running as-is, and how American Principles Project PAC's broader $10 million campaign will roll out across other states like Wisconsin and Georgia, remains to be seen. The campaign is just getting underway, and Texans will be seeing more of it between now and Election Day.