Biggs’ Floundering Campaign Turns to Fake AI Photos To Pretend He Has Bipartisan Support

Andy Biggs' flailing campaign took another hit this weekend, with his allies at Turning Point resorting to AI-generated fantasies of bipartisan support, including deepfaking a Democratic lawmaker into appearing to back him. Even Republican consultants called it a sign of weakness: "When you cannot find real people to support you, I guess you have to resort to AI," said GOP consultant Barret Marson.

No amount of fake, AI-generated endorsements changes Biggs' extreme, partisan record. He recently scored among the top 25 most partisan members of the U.S. House, and just last month admitted that "bipartisanship is probably not my number one goal." Turning Point has endorsed Biggs, made electing him a top priority, and spent heavily to boost his campaign. Even fellow Republicans have taken notice of his ties to Turning Point, with Schweikert arguing that Biggs is "wholly owned" by the organization.

Read more about Biggs and Turning Point’s desperate attempt to manufacture enthusiasm for his campaign using AI:

KJZZ: Turning Point activists use fake posts to claim Democrats are backing Biggs for Arizona governor

Wayne Schutsky

September 8, 2026

• Conservative political activists working with Turning Point Action posted fake images on social media claiming a group of Democrats, including a progressive state lawmaker, are supporting Republican Andy Biggs in the state’s race for governor.

  
  

• Over the weekend, Mary Ann Mendoza and Matt Whitmire made posts on the social media platform X thanking Rep. Lorena Austin (D-Mesa) for supporting the Biggs campaign. Both posts include images of an individual who bears a resemblance to Austin posing with signs that say “Demócratas por Biggs” and “Democrats for Biggs.”

  
  

• Austin confirmed they never posed for the photos backing Biggs.

  
  

• “I guess my first thought was a little shocked, but not surprised, because being deceptive and deceitful is what this group kind of does,” Austin said.

  
  

• For Austin, the deepfakes said a lot about Republican concerns about Biggs, who is trailing Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs by wide margins in most recent polling.

  
  

• “So when you don't have a winning message, you know, that reaches everyday Arizonans, I guess you reach for one of the most progressive legislators to help you with your message,” Austin said.

  
  

• Most of those polls show Hobbs performing better with independent voters and peeling off a small, but not insignificant, number of Republicans.

  
  

• Evidence suggests the photos are “deep fakes,” or fabricated images generated by artificial intelligence.

  
  

• Little, Mendoza and Whitmire all work with Turning Point Action, the political arm of the influential Turning Point USA organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

  
  

• Mendoza is a manager for Turning Point Action’s Chase the Vote campaign, according to her X profile. Whitmire also regularly posts on social media about his work with Turning Point Action and affiliate organizations, including a failed effort to take over the Salt River Project board earlier this year.

  
  

• Mendoza and Turning Point Action did not respond to a request for comment about whether the organization knew about the posts or endorsed the tactics at play.

  
  

• Both Mendoza and Whitmire deleted the photos shortly after KJZZ asked the Biggs campaign and Turning Point Action about the posts.

Phoenix New Times: Arizona Democrat eyes lawsuit over Turning Point USA AI deepfakes

Morgan Fischer

September 9

• A progressive state lawmaker may take legal action over several deepfake posts by Turning Point USA activists. The deepfakes show the lawmaker campaigning for Arizona’s Trump-endorsed Republican Governor.

  
  

• Two Turning Point activists posted a deepfake photo of Democrat Rep. Lorena Austin among a small group of people planting a “Democratas Por Biggs” sign in the grass along a road in downtown Mesa. The posts’ captions suggest Austin joined Turning Point’s gubernatorial campaign for Rep. Andy Biggs. 

  
  

• “I was definitely a little shocked, but not surprised, given that this group is known for being deceitful and deceptive,” said Austin in a phone interview with Phoenix New Times. “It’s disappointing that Turning Point and Republicans aren’t listening to the needs of everyday people and instead, they’re interested in creating deepfakes of candidates.”

  
  

• The activists have since deleted their posts. That’s perhaps because this type of content potentially violates Arizona state law. The Republican-led Arizona State Legislature passed two bills in 2024 to crack down on this kind of deceptive AI campaigning. The posts include no disclosure that the image of Austin is AI, which is required under state statute. New Times asked Austin if they’d consider taking any legal action against these posts.

  
  

• While Turning Point didn’t respond to New Times’ request to comment, its activists appeared — whether it was a serious effort or not — to attempt to use the likeness of the legislature’s first nonbinary member to claim bipartisanship in the campaign. 

  
  

• It’s Desperate

  
  

• It’s likely obvious to the highly informed Arizona politico that this post was fake, but it could have tricked a less informed everyday voter who wasn’t intimately familiar with the state lawmaker’s legislative record.

  
  

• With “a little minor investigation, you could see that that’s clearly not me,” Austin said, but it could give voters “some pause” that it is Austin. 

  
  

• “That’s deceitful and dishonest. And again, that’s what Turning Point has proven themselves to be,” Austin said. “It just really speaks to me that they’re so disconnected from the communities that they’re trying to serve.” 

  
  

• In a statement to New Times, Michael Beyer, Hobbs’ spokesperson, slammed “Biggs’ floundering campaign” as so “desperate” that all they can manufacture is “AI-generated fantasies,” he wrote. “But it won’t hide the fact that he’s an extremist who has spent his career putting partisan politics ahead of Arizona.”

  
  

• Political consultants seemed to agree with the Hobbs campaign that the series of posts by the Turning Point staffers reeked of desperation. Chuck Coughlin, a Republican political consultant, called the post “pretty disgusting and misleading,” adding, “That would never happen!” in a text to New Times.

  
  

• Barrett Marson, a Republican consultant, said the post “might be indicative of how the election is going more than Team Biggs wants to admit,” he wrote in a text to New Times. “When you cannot find real people to support you, I guess you have to resort to AI.”

  
  

• Democrat political consultant Tony Cani took the post as a win, of sorts. “I am glad that Turning Point is wasting their time on stuff like this,” he wrote in a text to New Times. “It is a perfect reflection of their organization. It’s childish, it’s dumb, and even if this is just a joke, not an attempt to trick voters — it’s not really funny, but it is unethical.”  

Yellow Sheet Report: Biggs supporters appear to use AI to create ‘Democrats for Biggs’

Reagan Priest

September 8, 2026

• Rep. Lorena Austin is crying foul over photos posted by Congressman Andy Biggs’ supporters claiming the state representative joined a “Democrats for Biggs” coalition.

  
  

• Over the weekend, Republican activists Matt Whitmire, Mary Ann Mendoza and Mindy Little posted photos they claimed showed Rep. Lorena Austin, D-Mesa, putting up signs promoting a “Democrats for Biggs” coalition backing the congressman’s gubernatorial bid.

  
  

• For anyone who has interacted with Austin, the photos are clearly the product of artificial intelligence. 

  
  

• “I will not be supporting Biggs at all,” Austin said. “I’m supporting Gov. Hobbs.”

  
  

• Only one of the posts, a video uploaded by Little that does not feature the AI-generated version of Austin, is labeled as AI. Arizona law allows candidates to sue over deepfake content posted without their consent and also requires candidate deepfakes posted within 90 days of an election to include a disclosure. 

The Arizona Republic: Arizona Democratic lawmaker says pro-Andy Biggs images are deepfakes

Helen Rummel, Stacey Barchenger

September 9, 2026

• Several social media photos circulating over the long weekend appeared to show Democratic state Rep. Lorena Austin joining a campaign called “Demócratas por Biggs" supporting the Republican gubernatorial candidate.

  
  

• But the images aren’t real, Austin said.

  
  

• “100% not me,” the Mesa lawmaker said. “It was a generated deepfake of me that I did not consent to.”

  
  

• The now-deleted photos showed a person who resembled Austin holding a campaign sign supporting Andy Biggs, who is challenging Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs this November. One of the images showed Austin with five other people.

  
  

• But in both images, several of Austin's tattoos were not pictured accurately. There is also no official campaign titled "Demócratas por Biggs" or "Democrats for Biggs."

  
  

• The images were shared on X by Matt Whitmire and Mary Ann Mendoza and were viewed roughly 25,000 times. Mendoza is a former Republican state House candidate who lost in 2024 and 2022. Both accounts have since deleted the images.

  
  

• Sexton hedged when asked if the campaign would ask its supporters to take down the images.

  
  

• "We're not going to get into policing what people can and should, or shouldn't, say," he added.

  
  

• Austin, who is running for reelection in Legislative District 9, hasn’t used the social media platform for several years and wasn’t aware that images depicting them campaigning for Biggs were being shared until someone else raised the issue. 

  
  

• The lawmaker denounced conservative political advocacy group Turning Point Action over the posts. Mendoza includes her title as a "Chase the Vote Manager" for the group on her X account, and social media posts indicate Whitmire holds the same job.

  
  

• “I was definitely shocked, but in a sense, I wasn't surprised,” Austin said, who believes the group played a role. “I think Turning Point is deceitful and dishonest, and this is on par for them.”

  
  

• Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point Action, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.  

  
  

• A man who answered at a phone number listed as belonging to Whitmire said Whitmire wasn't available, and then hung up. Multiple text messages to the number went unanswered.

  
  

• Hobbs signed two bills tackling artificial intelligence deepfakes in politics in 2024. Lawmakers united around both bills, which passed with sweeping bipartisan support. 

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