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| Mark Cuban said Democrats "have no clue how to leverage social media algos to their advantage." Jeff Schear/Getty Images for Global Citizen |
Billionaire investor and “Shark Tank” personality Mark Cuban believes the decisive factor in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections will not be fundraising, televised debates, or even traditional grassroots organizing — it will be artificial intelligence. In his view, the political campaigns that have already started integrating AI into their operations are positioning themselves to dominate, while others risk falling hopelessly behind.
In a series of candid posts on the social media platform BlueSky on Sunday, Cuban argued that Republicans are currently leading the race when it comes to leveraging digital platforms and emerging technologies for political influence. “The winners of the midterms are already working on how to integrate ChatGPT, Gemini, etc. into their campaigns,” he wrote, suggesting that millions of voters may soon turn to AI tools for guidance on how to vote. The implication was clear — in an election cycle increasingly shaped by technology, those who understand AI’s capabilities will set the agenda.
Republicans’ Early AI Adoption — and Trump’s Experiments
Cuban’s comments draw on the growing evidence that Republican figures and strategists are experimenting with AI-driven messaging at a faster pace than their Democratic counterparts. During the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump openly boasted about using AI to rewrite one of his speeches in just 15 seconds. He also shared AI-generated images, including fabricated scenes portraying pop icon Taylor Swift and her fans as Trump supporters — an example of how synthetic media can be used to craft persuasive, albeit misleading, narratives that spread rapidly online.
This kind of political content, Cuban noted, is far from accidental. He highlighted a Substack article written by Caroline Orr Bueno, a researcher at the University of Maryland’s Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security, who has studied how Trump’s allies exploit algorithms. According to Orr Bueno, they deliberately create and amplify outrage-inducing content to capture attention, dominate social media feeds, and influence voter perceptions.
“This is exactly why Dems get their ass handed to them by Trump’s world,” Cuban wrote bluntly. “They have no clue how to leverage social media algos to their advantage.”
The Democrats’ Struggle to Catch Up
While Republicans appear to be moving quickly to incorporate AI into campaign operations, Cuban suggested that Democrats have been slower to adopt these tools strategically. This lag could prove costly in a political environment where attention spans are short, online engagement is constant, and public opinion can be swayed by rapid-fire narratives.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) did not immediately respond to Local press’s request for comment on Cuban’s remarks. However, there have been some recent signs that Democratic-aligned organizations are aware of the need to catch up. The National Democratic Training Committee recently introduced an AI “playbook” for candidates and campaign staff. The guide aims to teach political teams how to use AI for creating social media content, conducting voter outreach, and performing research — while also warning against ethically dubious tactics such as deploying deepfake videos.
Still, Cuban’s critique suggests that providing a playbook is not enough. In his view, successful integration of AI requires more than just guidelines; it demands a cultural shift in how campaigns think about information warfare in the digital age.
The Coming AI Election Era
Political strategists have long known that technology shapes elections — from televised debates in the 1960s to social media campaigns in the 2010s. But Cuban’s warning underscores that AI is poised to become the next transformative tool. Unlike previous technologies, AI can instantly generate persuasive messaging, tailor outreach to individual voters, and produce hyper-targeted content at a scale and speed that human teams cannot match.
By 2026, this technology may be so ingrained in campaign infrastructure that voters will encounter AI-generated messaging without even realizing it. Cuban’s vision of “millions of voters” asking AI who to vote for is not far-fetched in a world where search queries, personalized recommendations, and algorithmic feeds already shape how people consume political news.
For Democrats, the challenge will be to close the gap before the 2026 midterms — not only by learning how to use AI tools effectively, but also by understanding how to compete in a political information environment increasingly dominated by algorithmic amplification and synthetic media. For Republicans, the opportunity lies in staying ahead of the curve and refining these tactics before opponents can mount an effective counterstrategy.
In Cuban’s eyes, the race for the future of political campaigning has already begun. Those who are experimenting now — not in 2025, not in the final months before the election — are the ones most likely to emerge victorious when voters head to the polls in 2026.
