Virginia GOP Candidate Stages AI 'Debate' with Virtual Opponent

Virginia GOP candidate stages 'debate' against AI-generated opponent

Republican John Reid staged a 40-minute "debate" between himself and an AI-generated bot that represented his opponent in the 2025 Virginia lieutenant governor's race, Democrat Ghazala Hashmi. (John Reid Campaign) After his Democratic opponent declined all of his debate requests in the Virginia lieutenant governor race, Republican John Reid decided he'd hold a 40-minute one anyway -- against a version of her generated by artificial intelligence. The fake voice of state Sen. Ghazala F. Hashmi (D-Richmond) got to make the first opening statement. Reid, a conservative talk radio host whose own party once tried to push him out of the race, shot his barbs at a monitor perched on a lectern. His "opponent's" responses, generated by AI, were delivered in a robotic voice that loosely mimicked Hashmi's. The AI bot had been trained on Hashmi's previous public statements on the debate topics, according to the Reid campaign, which also stressed that Reid did not see the questions in advance. The real-life Hashmi campaign called it a "shoddy gimmick" after Reid streamed the stunt to a few hundred people on his YouTube channel Tuesday night, sparking another debate -- on the boundaries of when and how technology should reshape political discourse. "It's not any worse than having an AI [President Donald] Trump piloting a plane and dumping on the public," said Virginia political strategist Bob Holsworth, referring to the president's controversial social media post over the weekend that portrayed Trump as a crowned fighter pilot dropping what appeared to be feces or sludge onto anti-Trump protesters in U.S. cities. "This is where we are right now, like it or not," Holsworth said. "Unless there are norms and rules that emerge in terms of the use of AI, you're likely to see it used in much more sophisticated ways in 2026. So, welcome to the future." The Democratic Party of Virginia issued a statement late Tuesday celebrating seven screenshots of responses given by the synthetic version of the Democratic nominee and "congratulating AI Ghazala Hashmi for winning John Reid's fake debate." The lieutenant governor is a largely ceremonial role in Virginia, aside from occasionally breaking ties in the closely divided state Senate. The post is elected independently from the governor, and this fall's contest has been sleepy despite the spectacle back in April when Reid's lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Gov. Glenn Youngkin's team demanding the Republican governor's allies stop linking Reid to sexually explicit social media posts, which Reid said aren't his. The other two GOP nominees on the Virginia ballot in November -- Winsome Earle-Sears for governor and Jason S. Miyares for attorney general -- have not campaigned alongside Reid. There have been no forums or formal debates with both candidates in the lieutenant governor's race -- same as during the 2021 campaign for lieutenant governor. The real Hashmi has dominated Reid in fundraising: She has aired two televisions ads to Reid's zero, and at the end of the most recent campaign finance reporting period in September, she had nearly 10 times more cash. Yet recent polls have the race as a bit of a toss-up, with Reid and Hashmi virtually tied in a recent Washington Post-Schar School poll that put Hashmi's 4-percentage-point lead within the margin of error. Noah Jennings, Reid's campaign manager, said the campaign tried to simulate a real debate and make it "fair and accurate to her, not campy and overdramatic." Jennings said the Reid campaign would have preferred an actual debate to a gimmick: "We have done literally everything we can. We offered any time, any place." Hashmi campaign spokesperson Ava Pitruzzello said in a statement that "John Reid's failed use of deepfakes is a desperate move straight out of Donald Trump's playbook. While we appreciate that AI Ghazala did share her vision like her commitment to public education and reproductive rights -- it's pretty clear, Reid only cares about shoddy gimmicks and not governing. Maybe he should focus on voters instead of videos. And hasn't he gotten in enough trouble online already?" To some Virginia lawmakers, the mere prospect of using technology to supplant real-life campaigning sets off alarm bells. "This really concerns me for the democratic process and for the campaign cycle. When we just make stuff up, it's disingenuous, it's dangerous, it's irresponsible," said Del. Michelle Lopes Maldonado (D-Prince William), a former technology lawyer who has worked in Richmond to set up guardrails for AI. "I think this creates a really artificial -- no pun intended -- dynamic that I think is not fair to voters," she said. "There are norms and etiquette that we should be following, and it seems a little absurd that this is a way to move forward." Richard Meagher, professor of political science at Randolph-Macon College, said Reid's stunt certainly raises concerns about what "some unscrupulous" future campaign could do, and "that specter is out there over our campaigns." But according to Meagher, Reid's transparency and attribution of the AI statements to Hashmi's own public views don't appear to cross any boundary. "I don't want to get into pearl clutching. Reid is very clear about what he's doing here," Meagher said. "There's a kind of silliness to it, and any attention to a campaign could be good. ... It could portray him as an underdog. It could also portray that this guy's a joke." Teo Armus and Gregory S. Schneider contributed to this report.

Virginia GOP candidate debates AI version of his opponent

Why it matters: This election year just keeps getting weirder. Driving the news: Reid, a Richmond-area conservative radio host, staged a 40-minute "debate" solo on Tuesday night after Democratic state Sen. Hashmi repeatedly declined to participate. * The YouTube broadcast involved Reid at a podium, facing off against a pixelated Hashmi giving AI-generated remarks in a robotic voice loosely mimicking the human senator. * Reid's campaign told Axios the AI was trained on Hashmi's public statements. * The questions, asked by a chatbot moderator in a suit, spanned from the economy, education and abortion to gun violence, immigration and the rights of transgender minors. What they're saying: Hashmi's campaign told Axios that the senator didn't grant permission for her likeness to be used in this way. * "Reid only cares about shoddy gimmicks," said campaign spokesperson Ava Pitruzzello, who noted the "AI Ghazala" did accurately share Hashmi's vision. * Hashmi was attending an event on rising energy costs Tuesday night, per the campaign. Meanwhile, Virginia's Democratic Party congratulated Hashmi for "winning." The big picture: It's been a chaotic election year in Virginia -- from a scandal-plagued attorney general candidate to Reid's own party briefly trying to push him out over social media posts of nude men that Reid has repeatedly denied sharing. The intrigue: Nationwide, the use of AI in politics -- including by President Trump -- has raised alarms about ethics and regulation. * At least 27 states have regulated AI in political campaigns, per an Axios review, with some banning it in the months before an election. * Gov. Youngkin vetoed a similar bill this year, calling it "an unworkable solution" with "an impractical enforcement structure." What we're watching: Whether lawmakers revive AI deepfake restrictions in the next General Assembly session.

Republican Candidate "Debates" Opponent By Sincerely Arguing With AI Deepfake For Nearly an Hour

You've probably heard of a "straw man," a fallacy in which you misrepresent an opponent's argument so it's easier to refute. Put up a false impression of what they're saying, and then knock 'em down. We all do it. But what we all probably don't do is create a full-blown AI-generated deepfake of our opponent and then sincerely try to argue with it for nearly an hour. And we probably aren't running for public office, either. Credit where credit's due, though. John Reid, a Republican candidate in the Virginia lieutenant governor race, went ahead and did just that, seemingly not stopping to ask questions like, "will this make me look insane?" or "does this count as spreading misinformation?" -- because he is, you must understand, on the cutting edge of the AI straw man. Reid streamed the 40 minute long stunt on his YouTube channel, and it's every bit as absurd as you'd expect. After boring us with nearly two minutes of text explaining that Reid's Democratic opponent, state senator Ghazala F. Hashmi, repeatedly turned down his requests for a debate, thus forcing Reid to pursue the "best-possible alternative" of using AI to replicate Hashmi, an AI debate moderator pops up on the screen in the form of a still image, and introduces them both in a bland voice. Both candidates give opening statements, with the AI Hashmi going first so Reid can get in a few easy dunks. At long last, a wideshot reveals Reid dutifully standing at a podium and gazing at the podium across from him, where his opponent -- a TV screen playing the AI Hashmi's responses -- sits equally resolute. What does this say about the state of American politics? Our analysis: that things are very strange indeed. "It's not any worse than having an AI Trump piloting a plane and dumping on the public," Virginia political strategist Bob Holsworth told the Washington Post. Holsworth is of course referring to the bizarre AI generated video president Donald Trump posted over the weekend that depicted him as a crown-wearing fighter pilot strafing peaceful protestors with barrages of diarrhea. The Trump administration has embraced using AI imagery to mock its political opponents and spread propaganda in clips that look like scam mobile game ads. These examples are often so absurd that it can be hard to take them seriously, but they raise uncomfortable questions about the tech's intrusion into the political sphere. While Reid was debating his AI straw man, an AI-deepfake of Irish presidential candidate Catherine Connolly circulated on social media showing her announcing her "withdrawal" from the race. The real Connolly called the deepfake a "disgraceful attempt to mislead voters and undermine our democracy," per the BBC. "This is where we are right now, like it or not," Holsworth told WaPo. "Unless there are norms and rules that emerge in terms of the use of AI, you're likely to see it used in much more sophisticated ways in 2026. So, welcome to the future."

Virginia Republican Debates Opponent In 1 Totally Weird Way: 'I Had To Force The Issue'

The GOP candidate for Virginia lieutenant governor is defending his debate against an artificial intelligence version of his Democratic opponent, calling it the "best-possible alternative" to the real thing. Conservative radio host John Reid (R) on Tuesday shared a video of his not-so-authentic debate with Virginia state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D) where a seemingly AI-generated image of a moderator asks questions to Reid and the AI version of the Democrat, who appears on a display atop a lectern across from him in real life. The bot takes from Hashmi's "publicized policy positions, as mined from a variety of available sources, with AI used to replicate" her voice after the Democrat "refused" to debate him, the video notes. The 40-minute, staged face-off sees Reid and the bot covering topics such as immigration, transgender rights, abortion, the economy and gun violence. Reid, in a statement shared prior to releasing his bot debate, claimed there were "no rehearsals, no second takes and no advance prep beyond" his "own notes." "Virginians deserve to see a side-by-side contrast, and since my opponent won't show up, I had to force the issue myself," he said. A spokesperson for Hashmi's actual campaign, in a statement to several media outlets, called out Reid over his "failed use of deepfakes" and likened it to a "desperate move straight out of Donald Trump's playbook." "While we appreciate that AI Ghazala did share her vision like her commitment to public education and reproductive rights -- it's pretty clear, Reid only cares about shoddy gimmicks and not governing," the statement read. "Maybe he should focus on voters instead of videos. And hasn't he gotten in enough trouble online already?" Earlier this year, Reid faced backlash and calls from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) to drop out of the race after he was linked to a Tumblr account that reposted photos of naked men. Reid, who is openly gay, denied having any ties to the account and accused Youngkin's political action committee of extortion. On Tuesday, the Democratic Party of Virginia took to social media to congratulate Hashmi for being victorious in the "fake debate" before thanking Reid for sharing the state senator's "winning message."

Virginia GOP candidate holds debate with AI clone of opponent after...

The Virginia lieutenant governor's race took a bizarre turn on Tuesday after the Republican candidate held a 40-minute debate -- with his Democratic opponent played by an AI stand-in. After State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi refused all his requests for a debate, Republican John Reid held his own event against a fake version of Hashmi, who answered prompts in a robotic voice mimicking the state lawmaker. "It's unfortunate that a sitting State Senator is either too afraid of her own record or too calculating to face the voters directly," Reid said in a statement explaining the "debate." "But I will always stand on my own two feet, and in an unscripted format, answer questions from the media and the public. That's what leadership looks like," he added. The event was dubbed, "The Debate That Should Have Happened," which featured Reid on a podium answering questions while the screen jumped to a still of Hashmi when it was the bot's turn to answer. The debate lasted about 40 minutes and focused on issues like minimum wage, electric vehicles and the candidate's education policy. Rather than allow the bot to come up with the answers, it was Reid's team who put together its responses based on Hashmi's previous public statements on the debate questions, Noah Jennings, Reid's campaign manager, told The Post. "We wanted it to be as fair to her as possible and not have this come off as a comedic stunt," Jennings said, explaining that AI was only used to mimic Hashmi's voice. Jennings added that the team came up with the idea after Hashmi refused a proposal to hold 10 debates across Virginia to appeal their position to voters. Hashmi campaign spokesperson Ava Pitruzzello slammed the one-way debate as a desperate gimmick for Reid, whose campaign has been rocky after his own party and Gov. Glenn Youngkin called on him to quit following accusations that he posted gay porn on social media. Reid has denied the allegations. "John Reid's failed use of deepfakes is a desperate move straight out of Donald Trump's playbook," Pitruzzello told the Washington Post, referencing the president's tendency to use AI images on Truth Social. "While we appreciate that AI Ghazala did share her vision like her commitment to public education and reproductive rights -- it's pretty clear, Reid only cares about shoddy gimmicks and not governing," she added. "Maybe he should focus on voters instead of videos. And hasn't he gotten in enough trouble online already?" Pitzruzzello concluded, taking a jab at the controversy around Reid. The lieutenant governor is a mostly ceremonial role in Virginia, with one of the position's few roles being to break ties in the state Senate. There have been no forums or formal debates for the position, something the held true for the 2021 campaign season. Recent polls show Reid and Hashmi are neck-and-neck, with the latest Washington Post-Schar School survey putting the Democrat at only 4-percentage points ahead of Reid, well within the margin of error.