TL;DR — Key Takeaways
- Campaigns are working to shape AI answers. Political strategists are adopting generative engine optimization (GEO) to influence how chatbots describe candidates and their policies.
- A new consulting market is emerging. Services range from affordable chatbot monitoring to costly content, paid placement and influencer campaigns.
- Effectiveness remains uncertain. Campaigns hope to improve their visibility in AI answers, but proposed strategies do not establish successful influence. Misinformation and source reliability remain concerns.
American political campaigns are targeting a new frontier to win over undecided voters: artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots answering the electorate’s questions.
Campaigns are shifting beyond conventional search engine optimization (SEO) toward generative engine optimization (GEO), an emerging strategy designed to manipulate large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini into presenting specific candidates as the ideal choice on critical issues. Midterm elections are Nov. 3.
Documents reviewed by Reuters, including a confidential presentation prepared for Mike Minogue, a Republican challenger to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, reveal how strategists intend to influence chatbot outputs. The blueprint details a plan to generate hundreds of AI-friendly policy documents, monitor chatbot behavior, and alter web content until the models’ outputs consistently reflect the candidate’s platform.
“Campaigns using AI-influence training are now a reality that we face, and it will be ubiquitous by the 2028 cycle,” said Joe Bonilla, managing partner of strategy firm Relentless Awareness. “The public increasingly cannot and will not be able to discern what is created by systems like Claude and ChatGPT versus human-originated content.”
According to investigative findings, consulting firms now pitch tiered influence packages — some featuring performance-based fees tied to how often bots recommend specific candidates. Simultaneously, watchdog and civic organizations like Run for Something are deploying specialized monitoring software to track whether major AI platforms regurgitate internet rumors or state official party platforms.
Political campaigns across the ideological spectrum are deploying GEO. The bipartisan push reflects shifting voter habits. With growing numbers of Americans turning to conversational AI for ballot research, strategists increasingly treat chatbot answers as vital zero-click territory that cannot be conceded.
The operational mechanics of GEO involve planting content across authoritative websites, producing targeted media on YouTube, and seeding discussions on Reddit, a platform heavily weighted in chatbot retrieval algorithms.
“If you don’t put the right information out there, who knows what the AI engines are going to grab onto,” said Thomas Howell, CEO of Visigent, which authored the Minogue deck. Visigent currently consults for six undisclosed political campaigns.
The pivot comes as voters increasingly turn to AI as an authoritative news source. Cameron Hickey, CEO of the National Conference on Citizenship, noted that roughly 25% of eligible voters have consulted a chatbot about political candidates when deciding their vote.
However, watchdogs warn that treating AI as a search engine carries risks.
“Chatbots speak very authoritatively and can consume vast amounts of unvetted information, so we have to guard against misinformation,” Meg Schwenzfeier of Caucus AI, a group tracking voter AI usage, told Reuters.
The burgeoning market for AI influence spans both sides of the aisle and caters to varying budgets. Visigent offers political services starting at $5,000 monthly, scaling to $50,000 per month for paid media and influencer outreach, alongside a $200,000 success fee for a “category win.”
On the progressive side, CampSight, run by the Run for Something Action Fund, provides budget-friendly monitoring starting at $9 a month for down-ballot candidates running for school boards and state legislatures. More than 300 campaigns and groups have joined its waitlist.
While concerns about digital disinformation linger, some technologists suggest AI models have shown resilience against crude manipulation. Run for Something Chief Technology Officer Jordan Haines noted that while early tests showed rapid reflection of unverified Reddit claims, language models have become increasingly adept at filtering reputable information.
Nevertheless, with the 2028 presidential cycle approaching, competing to be “the recommendation inside the AI answer” has become American politics’ newest digital battleground.
