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.
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“Potentially, yeah. Everything’s on the table right now. It’s kind of fresh and something that I still got to talk to other people about,” Austin responded. “They full and well knew that they created a fake image of myself, and then they tagged me and acted like I was supporting it.”
The first statute, ARS 16-1023, allows a candidate for public office to bring legal action for preliminary and permanent relief against the payee of the digital impersonation if it’s not made clear that the image wasn’t authentic and it “would not be obvious to a reasonable person” that the image was an impersonation. The second statute, ARS 16-1024, prohibits someone from distributing a “synthetic media message” that they know to be a “fraudulent deepfake” of a candidate on the ballot 90 days before the election, unless it’s made clear that it was created by artificial intelligence. Violators face a $10 fine per day for each day the content is distributed without disclosure.
In July, former state lawmaker Joseph Chaplik filed a lawsuit against a Virginia-based super PAC that used AI images of him in signage. The lawsuit was the first time the statutes were cited. A few days later, Chaplik lost to former Cardinals kicker Jay Feely in the Congressional District 1 Republican primary. His attorney, Dennis Wilenchik, said the case isn’t ongoing: “We decided not worth it unfortunately,” he wrote in an email to New Times.
‘Democratas Por Biggs’
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.
In his post, Matt Whitmire, a Turning Point activist, wrote, “It was so nice having @LorenaAustin4Az out with us on Our Democratas Por Biggs campaign.” Mary Ann Mendoza, a Turning Point Action “chase the vote” manager, posted a slightly different photo of Austin squatting, looking over their shoulder while giving a thumbs up to the camera.
“Thanks @LorenaAustin4az for the help putting up signs across Downtonw Mesa tonight,” wrote Mendoza, who unsuccessfully ran against Austin twice. “We will keep it on the downlow.”
Matt Whitmore’s social media post with deepfake photo of Rep. Lorena Austin.
Austin, who represents West Mesa in the state Hous confirmed to New Times that the person — or image — in the photos wasn’t them. Neither Turning Point Action nor the Biggs Campaign reached out to Austin about supporting his gubernatorial campaign, they said. Drew Sexton, the campaign manager for the Biggs campaign, wrote that the post isn’t from or connected to their campaign in a text to New Times. Turning Point didn’t respond to New Times’ request to comment.
Instead, Austin does support Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs’ reelection campaign. Plus, they were out of town the weekend staffers claimed Austin was in downtown Mesa placing street signs, Austin told New Times.
The photos show plenty of AI red flags. Still, you may need a closer look to spot them.
For example, the words on the signs vary from photo to photo. The sign in Mendoza’s photo says “Democrats for Biggs.” In Whitmire’s photo, the sign reads “Democratas Por Biggs.” The tattoo of an eagle on an American flag on Austin’s arm also switches arms in the second photo — as does the watch around their wrist. Plus, the tattoos don’t match the ones Austin has, they said. Deepfake Detector gave the photo a 100% AI score, adding that the “visual analysis is highly consistent with AI-generated imagery,” according to a post by KJZZ reporter Wayne Schutsky.
“It’s weird,” Austin added. “Maybe really shows that their messages aren’t getting to people, so they’re trying to use me. I don’t know; it’s kind of weird.”
Despite the obvious AI markers, the posts with deepfake-Austin don’t have a disclaimer that the photo is AI. Mindy Little, the deputy enterprise director of Turning Point Action, posted a Grok-created video featuring the same photo, but with the people in it speaking Spanish to the camera. The main difference? The deepfaked Austin was suspiciously absent from the photo.
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.”
Jeremy Helfgot, a Democrat political consultant, pointed to Austin’s identity as a nonbinary person as a reason why she was targeted for the deepfake.
“If they’re going to do something grossly dishonest and underhanded, why not aim it toward somebody who’s already in a category that they completely dislike, disrespect and disregard,” Helfgot said.
