New Mexico Democrats accuse Senate Republicans of violating AI campaign law on misinformation

The New Mexico Democratic Party has asked the State Ethics Commission to investigate whether state Senate Republicans’ use of AI-generated images in recent social media posts violate a 2024 state law aimed at curbing political misinformation.

The Senate Republicans and state Sen. Jay Block (R-Rio Rancho) have published or shared artificially generated images of Democrats in recent weeks as part of a campaign accusing the majority Democrats of being corrupt.

Some of the images include a fake jail mugshot of Senate Pro Tem Sen. Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque), House Speaker Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) wearing a hammer-and-sickle lapel pin and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Deb Haaland embracing an unspecified man in an orange prison jumpsuit.

The fake mugshot suggests Stewart was charged with “hit and run,” a reference to an automobile crash between Stewart and a pedestrian in 2024 that has recently surfaced in news reports. Stewart was never issued a citation or booked into jail, and she stayed on scene until police arrived, interim Santa Fe Police Department Chief told the Santa Fe New Mexican. 

In a complaint to the ethics commission the Democrats provided Friday, DPNM Chair Sara Attleson said the images violate House Bill 182, which imposes strict disclaimer requirements on AI-generated campaign materials. The law requires artificially generated images to carry conspicuous disclaimers with the following text: “This image has been manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence.”

In a statement, Attleson called on the Ethics Commission to investigate and impose any penalties as quickly as possible. State law provides for $1,000 fines for each violation. 

“Voters should not be misled by public officials or their official offices about what is or isn’t real,” Attleson said. “We are asking the Ethics Commission to enforce the law that is meant to protect faith in our elections.”

None of the images on social media carried the required disclaimer, though Facebook has since labeled both as AI generated. Block, who originally posted the fake mugshot of Stewart, also noted that his image was AI-generated at the end of a lengthy Facebook post Sept. 22. 

Block told Source NM on Monday that the SEC complaint is Democrats’ effort to distract from the real corruption the images seek to highlight.  He also defended his post as protected speech under the First Amendment. 

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“I can’t believe they’re crying over that when they refuse to hold themselves accountable,” Block said of Democrats. “It’s called free speech.” 

Late Friday, after New Mexico Democrats announced they’d filed the ethics complaint, Senate Republicans republished their post with the contested images along with the required disclaimer. 

Still, Sen. Minority Leader Bill Sharer (R-Farmington), in a statement, called the matter “funny.”

“The Democrat Party, that consistently fails to hold their own members to account when it comes to breaking the law and violating ethical standards, is taking exception to our efforts to expose their failed leadership and lack of accountability,” he said.”