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There's a FAKE-independent effort to use AI to identify districts where their chosen "independents" can win
This was published by NPR on Dec. 1, but I missed it then, and apparently no one else here posted it either (I searched).
And we need to keep an eye on this, because these aren't really independents.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/01/g-s1-98267/ai-independent-candidates-congress-two-party-control
-snip-
"Without AI, what we're trying to do would be impossible," explained Adam Brandon, a senior adviser at the Independent Center, a nonprofit that studies and engages with independent voters.
The goal is to elect a handful of independent candidates to the House of Representatives in 2026, using AI to identify districts where independents could succeed and uncover diamond in the rough candidates.
-snip-
"We're political fighters," said Brandon, who served as president of FreedomWorks, the conservative grassroots group that helped turn Tea Party activists into a political force before closing its doors last year. "We have built a team of people that know how to do this. We're not going to be pushovers."
Brandon works closely with Brett Loyd, who runs The Bullfinch Group, the nonpartisan polling and data firm overseeing the polling and research at the Independent Center. He previously worked on President Trump's polling team, when the president was a candidate.
-snip-
"Without AI, what we're trying to do would be impossible," explained Adam Brandon, a senior adviser at the Independent Center, a nonprofit that studies and engages with independent voters.
The goal is to elect a handful of independent candidates to the House of Representatives in 2026, using AI to identify districts where independents could succeed and uncover diamond in the rough candidates.
-snip-
"We're political fighters," said Brandon, who served as president of FreedomWorks, the conservative grassroots group that helped turn Tea Party activists into a political force before closing its doors last year. "We have built a team of people that know how to do this. We're not going to be pushovers."
Brandon works closely with Brett Loyd, who runs The Bullfinch Group, the nonpartisan polling and data firm overseeing the polling and research at the Independent Center. He previously worked on President Trump's polling team, when the president was a candidate.
-snip-
Much more at the link. No paywall.
If you believe these guys are really independents, the dumbest chatbot on Earth could probably sell you the Brooklyn Bridge and convince you chatbots built it.
They're Republicans who know their favorite party is likely to lose House seats next year, so they hope to run spoiler candidates to prevent those Democratic victories.
And they're probably hoping that if they talk about AI, it'll help them sway the more gullible AI fans.
According to the article, they're fine with being called spoilers, because what they're spoiling is "archaic" and "corrupt."
Wording that's also likely to appeal to not-very-bright AI fans who definitely don't want to be "archaic" and might be convinced - maybe by chatbots and these fake independents using AI - that both parties are corrupt.