Jim Heath Channel

This attack ad from Van Hilleary's congressional campaign uses entirely AI-generated imagery to depict Republican primary rival and state Rep. Johnny Garrett leading a Pride parade, meeting with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and posing alongside drag queens, none of which are real events or interactions, and the ad carries no disclaimer identifying the footage as synthetic or AI-generated. Hilleary, a former four-term congressman and ex-chief of staff to outgoing Rep. John Rose, is competing against Garrett, the Tennessee House Majority Whip, in the August 6 Republican primary for the newly redrawn 6th District, a race both campaigns have leaned heavily into Trump-aligned messaging and anti-trans, anti-"radical left" themes to court primary voters. The ad's fabricated depictions run directly counter to Garrett's actual legislative record, in which he has cosponsored bills restricting gender-affirming care for minors and transgender athletes' participation in sports, and its absence of any AI labeling raises a growing concern in Tennessee's 2026 races, where synthetic political imagery has increasingly gone unlabeled even as it depicts events that never occurred.

This is part of Jim Heath's Campaign Ads '26 project, building a permanent public archive of 2026 campaign ads, the money behind them, and the attacks voters may never see in their own state.