These Democrats Think the Party Needs AI to Win Elections [View all]

Last edited Fri Aug 8, 2025, 06:57 PM - Edit history (1)

The National Democratic Training Committee has made the first official playbook for the use of AI by Democratic campaigns ahead of the midterms.

...the National Democratic Training Committee (NDTC) is rolling out ... a new online training, the committee has laid out a plan for Democratic candidates to leverage AI to create social content, write voter outreach messages, and research their districts and opponents.
Since the NDTC’s founding in 2016, the organization says, it has trained more than 120,000 Democrats seeking political office.
The group offers virtual lessons and in-person bootcamps training would-be Democratic politicians on everything from ballot registration and fundraising to data management and field organizing. The group is largely targeting smaller campaigns with fewer resources with its AI course, seeking to empower what could be five-person teams to work with the “efficiency of a 15 person team.”...

The three-part training includes an explanation on how AI works, but the meat of the course revolves around possible AI use cases for campaigns. Specifically, it encourages candidates to use AI to prepare text for a variety of platforms and uses, including social media, emails, speeches, phone-banking scripts, and internal training materials that are reviewed by humans before being published.

The training also points out ways Democrats shouldn’t use AI and discourages candidates from using AI to deepfake their opponents, impersonate real people, or create images and videos that could “deceive voters by misrepresenting events, individuals, or reality.” “This undermines democratic discourse and voter trust,” the training reads. It also advises candidates against replacing human artists and graphic designers with AI to “maintain creative integrity” and support working creatives.
The final section of the course also encourages candidates to disclose AI use when content features AI-generated voices, comes off as “deeply personal,” or is used to develop complex policy positions. “When AI significantly contributes to policy development, transparency builds trust,” it reads...

"Our approach focuses on turning fear into a force multiplier—thousands of Democratic campaigns can now leverage AI to compete at any scale, everywhere,” says Kelly Dietrich, founder and CEO of the NDTC. “We have an incredible opportunity to take back power in 2026 and save our country from MAGA fascism.”

The NDTC course is the first major attempt to teach Democrats how to bolster their campaigns with AI. Last cycle, Democrats used AI to handle routine tasks like drafting fundraising emails but generally refrained from using it for more strategic functions. In the training, the NDTC argues that Democrats are falling behind while Republicans have already incorporated the tech across campaign functions.

“We need some campaigns to really invest in it and try it. We have yet to see Democratic campaigns where it’s integrated at every level,” says Kate Gage, cofounder of the |Higher Ground Institute and executive director at the Cooperative Impact Lab.

Much more at https://archive.ph/tczgN

If the party's doing this, my position is, why not? what have we got to lose?
Could the party's AI use, itself, be a campaign issue for our opponents? Sure! But so were their million other petty, stupid "issues," or their high-handed claim that "Dems represent the "elites," ... pffffffft yeah, like their side is really "the people's" party.