On March 11, 2026, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) released an 85-second AI-generated deepfake video depicting a fabricated version of James Talarico, the 36-year-old Democratic nominee for US Senate in Texas who had been endorsed by Barack Obama and Joe Rogan.
The video showed a hyper-realistic AI-generated Talarico appearing to read old social media posts about transgender issues, race, religion, and Planned Parenthood. The fake Talarico added fabricated commentary like 'oh, this one is so touching' and 'oh, I love this one too' — statements the real Talarico never made.
UC Berkeley digital forensics professor Hany Farid assessed: 'The face and voice are very good... this is hyper-realistic and I don't think that most people would immediately know it is fake.' The only disclosure was small, faint 'AI GENERATED' text in the bottom corner.
Texas has one of the country's strictest state laws on political deepfakes — a 2019 criminal misdemeanor statute — but it only applies within 30 days of an election. The NRSC released the ad in March, well outside that window.
Public Citizen's co-president stated: 'Political deepfakes are a profound threat to our democracy, because there is no realistic way for voters to understand they are seeing fake representations rather than real video.'