Shawn Griffiths
The influence of AI is growing. It has already entered American politics through campaign ads, fundraising, voter outreach, and opposition research. Now, a newly announced super PAC in New Hampshire will attempt to influence who controls the US Senate.
And it will largely be run using artificial intelligence.
New Hampshire political activist Aaron Day launched StarkFreedom on Tuesday, which will spend up to $2.5 million supporting third-party candidates in four competitive Senate races. The objective? Day says it is to punish the GOP by tipping the scales in favor of the Democrats.
However, instead of outright supporting Democratic nominees, the PAC will try to elevate third party candidates who can exceed the final vote margin between the two major parties. In other words, it is not endorsing third party candidates to support them, but to leverage them.
The group says AI will power its research, polling, legal drafting, campaign content, and digital operations in pursuit of this goal. And its first test will be in New Hampshire.
US Senate Constitution Party candidate Edmond Laplante is on the November ballot alongside Democrat Chris Pappas and Republican John Sununu. There is no incumbent in the race as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (whose seat is up) did not seek re-election.
The Cook Political Report moved the Senate contest into its toss-up category on September 15.
Laplante was certified for the ballot on September 2, and according to a recent Rasmussen poll conducted September 8-10 among 1,000 likely voters, he is polling at 2%, compared to Pappas at 45% and Sununu at 34%.
Day, who ran for Senate back in 2016, was also included in the poll at 4%.
"Rasmussen has me at 4% in a race I am not even running in, and Ed Laplante at 2," he said. "I am asking every one of my supporters to vote Laplante.”
“That is 6%. And if Laplante finishes at 4, the Constitution Party earns its own ballot line in New Hampshire for 2028. I have talked to people all across this state who want to run under that banner."
Under state law, a political organization qualifies for party recognition if its gubernatorial or US Senate candidate receives at least 4% of the vote in the preceding state general election. Not all of Day’s surveyed support would be needed to get Laplante there.
But this also assumes the poll accurately depicts the preferences of state voters and if Day can convince his supporters to vote for Laplante.
Having run before, Day has firsthand experience with close elections. He received nearly 18,000 votes in 2016 while Democrat Maggie Hassan defeated Republican Kelly Ayotte by just 1,017 votes.
This provides a historical comparison, but there is no way to say how Day’s voters would have cast their ballots if he was not in the race—or if they would have voted at all.
The reason Day was included in the latest Rasmussen Poll is because he was a potential candidate this year. On August 31, a judge granted him a preliminary injunction ordering the state to accept his declaration of intent if he otherwise qualified.
He says he beat the state, not with a lawyer, but with AI. Now he wants to deploy similar tools in federal campaigns.
"I was running for this seat myself. I won the court case, and I had the certified signatures in hand," Day said.
"The only reason I did not file them is that I was told some of my demands had been met. That was a lie. So, I am not a candidate this year. I am the margin, in four states, with a budget."
According to the announcement, StarkFreedom is preparing its Federal Election Commission registration as an independent expenditure-only committee (a super PAC).
Day says the goal is to spend $2.5 million on the targeted elections. Under FEC rules, super PACs can accept unlimited contributions but must make their expenditures independently of the candidates they support or oppose.
StarkFreedom says it will announce its remaining three Senate targets on Thursday, September 24.