Screenshot of an AI-generated ad from a pro-Letlow PAC depicting Democratic Senate nominee Jamie Davis
A super PAC supporting Republican Julia Letlow in Louisiana’s Senate contest released a “digitally altered” ad on Wednesday attacking Democrat Jamie Davis.
The $400,000 ad buy hit the airwaves just after the close of early voting Tuesday, which saw record-setting turnout, especially among Black voters, buoying Democrats’ hopes of winning in a state that President Donald Trump carried by 22 points in 2024.
The 30-second spot depicts an AI-generated image of Davis, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, walking toward the camera.
“He wants to be our U.S. senator but his values are not Louisiana values,” the ad states, as the camera zooms in on Davis’ AI-generated face.
A brief disclaimer at the beginning of the ad notes that “THIS ADVERTISEMENT CONTAINS DIGITALLY GENERATED CONTENT,” a disclosure that’s newly required under Louisiana law.
The ad was paid for by Accountability Project Inc, a super PAC run by conservative political operatives Jay Connaughton and Jason Hebert. It’s spent around $9.7 million supporting Letlow’s candidacy. (Click here for a list of donors to the Accountability Project and here for a list of donors to its largest contributor, Hope in Action PAC.)
The ad is the first attack against Davis this cycle. Its timing — a week before Election Day — suggests Letlow’s camp is “seeing something they don’t like, either in polling data or early voting data,” John Couvillon, a Baton Rouge-based pollster, told Perdido Street.
More than 524,000 ballots were cast during the seven-day early voting period that ended Tuesday, a record for a non-presidential election in Louisiana, according to data from the Louisiana Secretary of State.
Democrats outvoted Republicans 42% to 39%, and Black voters accounted for 34.4% of the early votes, a massive turnout that bodes well for Democrats.
Trump on Wednesday said he plans to hold a “major TeleRally” on Monday alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson to rally support for Letlow ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
“Highly Respected America First Congresswoman, Julia Letlow, of the wonderful State of Louisiana, is a Great Star, has been from the very beginning, and only gets better!” Trump wrote on social media.
Couvillon, who isn’t working for any candidate in the race, said he thinks the attack ad will have little to no impact on voter sentiment.
“I think [Letlow’s camp] waited too long to know they had problems,” Couvillon said, adding that the time to attack Davis would have been in late September or early October, when voters were forming their opinions of candidates.
Some of Davis’ supporters accused the pro-Letlow super PAC of intentionally darkening Davis’ skin in the AI-generated ad to stir up racial animus among voters.
Connaughton, who created the ad and owns the St. Tammany-based political consulting firm People Who Think, said in a text message Thursday that was an “ABSURD accusation.” He provided a side-by-side photo of the AI-generated image and a picture from Davis’ campaign website.
A side-by-side of the AI-generated ad (left) and a Davis campaign photo (right) provided by Connaughton
Davis’ campaign, in a statement to Perdido Street, said the ad presents a “distorted version” of Davis’ record.
“[Letlow] wouldn’t enter this race without Trump’s endorsement, she won’t defend her own record in a debate, and now she’s relying on a super PAC’s last-minute desperate attacks rather than answering for her own decisions,” campaign spokesperson Lawrence Mason III said.
The Letlow campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The ad states that Davis “wants abortion on demand until birth, gun rights taken away, socialized healthcare, illegals to become citizens and ICE eliminated, weaker sentences for criminals, some walking free.”
The Times-Picayune, in a story about the ad Thursday, pointed to an interview Davis did earlier this month with conservative talk radio host Joe Cunningham in Lafayette, in which Davis said he carries a rifle with him when he drives around his farm in case he spots a feral hog.
“I have to open up on them,” Davis said. “I’m a gun-packing Democrat.”
In the same interview, Davis also said, “I want the borders closed.”
Davis told The Times-Picayune earlier this month that he wants ICE to focus on “criminals” and that undocumented immigrants who have been in the country without violating the law for 10 years “should have a fair way of becoming a citizen.”
Senate candidate Jamie Davis and actor Wendell Pierce second-line to the polls outside City Hall on Tuesday
The ad also asserts that “California and New York are bankrolling” Davis’ campaign. “Maybe he should be running there,” it adds.
A website accompanying the ad argues that Davis is “too liberal for Louisiana” and provides evidence it argues supports its claims.
According to OpenSecrets, around 86% of Davis’ funding has come from out-of-state donors, with California leading with $477,754 followed by New York with $170,752. He also received $399,898 from Louisiana.
Around 75% of Davis’ funding has come from small-dollar contributors, who donated $200 or less.
The bulk of Letlow’s funding — around 68% — has come from Louisiana, though only 2.4% of it has come from small-dollar contributors, according to OpenSecrets.
Couvillon said he expects third-party spending in the campaign to ramp up in the days leading up to Election Day.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy’s Common Sense for America PAC sent a text message to voters imploring them to “protect the Supreme Court” by voting for Letlow.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Click here to find your polling location.
