Bailey\u2019s running mate, Aaron Del Mar, told Capitol News Illinois that AI content serves a key purpose for their campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom an algorithm standpoint, when we post something static, it doesn\u2019t have engagement,\u201d Del Mar said. \u201cWhen you start posting some of these AI images that you\u2019re describing, the engagement goes off the roof. Your accessibility to the algorithms is off the charts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winning the algorithms to reach more viewers on social media is important for Bailey\u2019s campaign, which mostly relies on small-dollar donations and is not expected to raise massive amounts of money. Pritzker, on the other hand, has spent more than $300 million of his own money on his first two races for governor and already put over $25 million into this year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n
Creating AI images also saves the campaign money, Del Mar said, adding that they cost less than traditional images created by human graphic designers.<\/p>\n
Pritzker\u2019s campaign says it won\u2019t be showing anyone AI images. Campaign manager Chris Shallow told Capitol News Illinois the campaign has an internal policy against it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use AI in the way that I think most modern organizations do,\u201d he said. \u201cLargely its around helping our team work smarter on research, data analysis, there are applications in cybersecurity that we use AI for. A lot of behind-the-scenes stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Bailey is posting<\/p>\n
Misleading imagery isn\u2019t new to politics, and campaigns have long distorted images to negatively portray opponents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe distinction I would draw between photoshop and AI is that photoshop is based on a real image,\u201d Shallow said. \u201cWhat Darren Bailey is doing is creating fictional, completely-generated-by-AI content that is not even remotely based in reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Bailey and Del Mar have posted a variety of AI images and videos on their social media pages since winning the March 17 Republican primary. Their use of it is part of a growing national trend in politics<\/a>, where AI images, including some that are outright false and misleading but designed to look real, are being used in campaigns.<\/p>\n Bailey\u2019s campaign has created several videos portraying Pritzker as various characters. A series of videos shows the governor as a shady billionaire<\/a> giving tax dollars to the Hyatt hotel, money to a Chicago peacekeeper<\/a> he stood with for a photograph who was later charged<\/a> in a violent crime, freeing inmates from electronic monitoring<\/a> and lounging in the Bahamas<\/a> with his \u201coffshore trusts.\u201d Another shows Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson as babies fighting<\/a> over a toy, with Del Mar writing in the post: \u201cConstant fighting. Constant dysfunction. Constant failure. Illinois deserves adults in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think those videos are dramatic portrayals of what some people in Illinois feels is happening to our state,\u201d Del Mar said. \u201cWe look at those kind of like political cartoons that have been around for well over 100 years. It\u2019s something that catches people\u2019s attention and portrays it in a different light.\u201d<\/p>\n Some images resemble a digitally drawn political cartoon. A May 18 post<\/a> by Del Mar shows himself, Bailey and Pritzker tugging at the sides of a map for control of Illinois while a May 26 post<\/a> portrays Pritzker\u2019s belongings being loaded into a moving truck outside the Capitol as Bailey and Del Mar walk in.<\/p>\n While Bailey and Del Mar have fed their online followers a steady diet of AI content, Del Mar said it likely won\u2019t appear in any TV ads or mailers. He said he feels people are more likely to know the content is AI online.<\/p>\n Del Mar also said he doesn\u2019t feel like the campaign has crossed the line with any of its creations.<\/p>\n \u201cI think those lighthearted ones are definitely appropriate,\u201d he said, pointing to an image they posted of their campaign logo as the Bat Signal over the Chicago skyline, designed to imply the campaign has arrived to help the city like Batman. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve done anything with malice towards our opponent. Certainly we cut some edges here and there.\u201d<\/p>\n Some images are infographics with a variety of data on taxes, data centers<\/a>, gas prices and immigration spending<\/a>, though only one cites a source. They also include different portrayals of Pritzker, depicting him as overweight and smoking<\/a> or as a king of sorts wearing toilet regalia<\/a> \u2014 an apparent nod to the time Pritzker removed toilets from a home<\/a> before he became governor to get a tax break.<\/p>\n Aside from the photo of Pritzker in Packers gear, none of the images or videos Bailey or Del Mar have posted appear realistic.<\/p>\n Bailey\u2019s campaign also recently used AI to make a \u201csay no to data centers\u201d campaign button<\/a>. The post was flagged by Facebook as \u201cAI info,\u201d which irked independent Collin Corbett\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cOnly a politician like Darren Bailey who will say anything to get elected would post an image generated by AI to claim he’s against data centers,\u201d Corbett said in a social media post.<\/p>\n Corbett\u2019s campaign has only shared one AI image, which was the thumbnail<\/a> to a Bears podcast he appeared on. A spokesperson for Corbett said in an email that \u201cwe don’t oppose AI, but we believe it\u2019s important in campaigns to elevate the work done by real people.\u201d<\/p>\n Pritzker stays traditional<\/p>\n Shallow declined to say how Pritzker\u2019s campaign would respond if Bailey posted more realistic looking false portrayals of the governor or used Pritzker\u2019s voice to say something he never actually said.<\/p>\n Pritzker\u2019s campaign plans to stick with more traditional methods, such as \u201cby using real Illinoisians telling real stories about how the governor has improved their lives,\u201d Shallow said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think it\u2019s more compelling than any AI slop that Darren Bailey\u2019s going to come up with,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to manufacture anything. Darren Bailey, anytime he steps in front of a camera, he does our work for us. We just have to record it.\u201d<\/p>\n Shallow said he\u2019s not worried that Bailey\u2019s AI will have any effect on voters since it\u2019s only being posted on social media and is generally only seen by Bailey and Del Mar\u2019s followers.<\/p>\n Support for regulations <\/p>\n Pritzker told reporters in Decatur in June that he\u2019s not a fan of AI political content and supports regulations on it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s deteriorating the political environment, if you ask me,\u201d Pritzker said. \u201cSo I think that, at a minimum, we should be watermarking any ad, whether it\u2019s online or on television, and it should say this is produced by AI, or something like that, so people know this isn\u2019t real.\u201d<\/p>\n Del Mar said he supports similar requirements.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that a disclaimer would be the easiest and probably most efficient way of doing it because you don\u2019t want to be able to slow down technology,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Illinois lawmakers are contemplating something similar. A provision in a large election reform package that was filed at the end of the spring session but never advanced called for requiring disclosures on ads that use AI.<\/p>\n Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, D-Libertyville, who filed a standalone version of the bill, said she wants lawmakers to answer a key question: \u201cDo we own our own likeness?\u201d She added: \u201ctruth and reality is getting blurred between lies and people can\u2019t discern.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the bill, ads released four months before an election that use AI must have a disclosure on them. That includes written statements on graphic images, 3-second spoken statements before or after AI audio is used, and both written and spoken statements when AI is used in a video. Campaigns would have to provide notice to the State Board of Elections about the ad and could be subject to fines each time an ad is distributed. Media outlets that distribute the ads would not be regulated.<\/p>\n Edly-Allen said she also supports broader legislation that limits campaigns from altering images and not just with AI, such as changing what someone is wearing or the text of a sign they\u2019re holding. As an example, she said that as a former state representative, she rejected a proposed mailer that would\u2019ve attacked her opponent, Republican Chris Bos, and portrayed him wearing a Make America Great Again hat because she did not want to alter his physical appearance. The hat was instead placed alone on the mailer.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you take someone\u2019s likeness and alter it to the degree that people are tricked or deceived, that\u2019s the red line for me,\u201d Edly-Allen said.<\/p>\n The requirements of the bill would\u2019ve applied to the 2026 election had it passed and been signed by Pritzker by mid-June. Edly-Allen said she thinks momentum is growing among lawmakers to pass regulations.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s always after the harms are done that people are like \u2018hey, we need to do something,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cHow do we balance our First Amendment right to free speech and this idea that we can be protected as candidates?\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of how AI is regulated, its explosion in everyday society means it\u2019s likely to remain part of politics.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a powerful tool that can help campaigns, and I think Democratic campaigns should be thinking about how to incorporate AI tools into their workflow,\u201d Shallow said.<\/p>\n Capitol News Illinois<\/a> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.<\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Capitol News Illinois<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783355472_491_cropped-Captiol-News-Illinois.png\")
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