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TRUVACE RECORD VERSION
record: TRV-2026-1531
version: 1
kind: certified
reason: Certified into the record
timestamp: 2026-10-16T06:53:41.484938Z
status: published
lens: p_space
sector: policy
headline: How American political campaigns are using AI – and what they’re spending on the tools
dek: New campaign finance disclosure data shines a light on which US political campaigns are using AI tools and how much they are spending on them. Candidates’, parties’ and committees’ spending reveals that AI is fast becoming an essential tool of politics. The candidates themselves are quiet about how they are using the technology in their own campaigns. It’s a sensitive issue that we have been tracking closely since we started writing our book, Rewiring Democracy, which examined how AI is beginning to influence po…
gain_title: (none)
problem_title: Disclosure rules miss spending by consultants, media firms and independent committees, so the bulk of campaign AI use is likely hidden from public view.
trace_subject: (none)
gain_reading: (none)
gain_evidence: (none)
problem_reading: Disclosure rules miss spending by consultants, media firms and independent committees, so the bulk of campaign AI use is likely hidden from public view.
problem_evidence: They don’t cover spending on AI by political consultants, media firms and other vendors hired by the campaigns | are very likely where the bulk of campaign AI usage is happening
quick_read: Federal and state campaign finance disclosures show US campaigns and committees paying for AI products. FEC data back to 2020 show at least $17m across 523 federal candidates and campaigns. General-purpose chatbots account for modest sums, while text-messaging and voter-engagement vendors take far more.

The figures matter because they show AI becoming routine campaign infrastructure while candidates stay quiet about it and voters are wary. Most real usage probably sits outside the required disclosures, and the effect on voters' decisions will not be clear until the final weeks before the November election.
limitation: 
tag: Evidence-backed problem
key_points: At least 80 federal campaigns and committees have reported spending with OpenAI since 2024, about $50,000 in total. | At least 65 candidates or committees reported paying Anthropic in 2026, with roughly a two-to-one Democrat-to-Republican ratio. | Daisychain has drawn about $300,000 in the 2026 cycle, up from about $50,000 in 2024, while Campaign Nucleus draws Republican spending. | State-level generative AI spending in four states reached at least $92,000 since 2022, with 2026 about ten times the 2024 total. | Wesleyan Media Project data show at least 164 political ads with AI-generated media, backed by at least $80m in ad spending.
rundown: On general-purpose tools, spending is small and mostly labeled as office expenses, ChatGPT subscriptions or research tools. OpenAI use skews slightly Republican, with the Republican National Committee the largest buyer at nearly $10,000. Candidates tend to use either Claude or ChatGPT, and only about 12% report paying both. xAI has just seven federal and two state-level payers, about $5,000 in total.

Specialist vendors take more money. AmplifAI took $4.7m in the 2022 cycle but has tapered off, while Daisychain is rising among Democrats. Campaign Nucleus has drawn six-figure spending from the Republican National Committee and Trump-aligned Pacs. Prompt.io has fallen from over $500,000 in 2022 to about $375,000 in 2026, though one Pac has spent more than $1m on it this year.

Tools for synthetic media show very little disclosed spending. Six federal filers reported about $1,400 on ElevenLabs and five reported about $1,600 on Midjourney. Yet at least 164 ads this cycle include AI-generated media, supported by at least $80m, so the disclosures understate the true scale. A September 2025 Pew survey found over 70% of Americans would think less of a candidate who used AI to help write a speech.
sources:
- journalism | The Guardian | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/29/political-campaigns-ai-tools-spending | 2026-09-29
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