With one in five likely voters planning to use AI to research a race, a presentation for Massachusetts Republican candidate Mike Minogue outlined ways to shape chatbot answers around his platform, Reuters reported.
Visigent proposed creating hundreds of policy pages and regularly comparing Minogue’s online profile with answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok. The strategy also included paying for exposure on external websites cited by chatbots and distributing campaign content through YouTube and Reddit. Reuters described the plan but did not report that Minogue’s campaign had put it into practice. The campaign did not answer Reuters’ requests for comment.
The presentation reviewed by Reuters called the approach generative engine optimization, or GEO. It described “AI recommendation share” as a measure of how often chatbots include a candidate in their answers. Visigent CEO Thomas Howell told Reuters that political consulting fees start at $5,000 a month and can reach $50,000 per month when paid media, placements or influencer outreach are included. The presentation reviewed by Reuters also listed a potential $200,000 success fee for a category win.
An American Association of Political Consultants Foundation survey conducted Sept. 14-22 found one in five likely voters in the 2026 general election planned to use AI to research a race on their ballot. AP-NORC’s probability-based survey of 2,140 U.S. adults, conducted Sept. 24-28, found 21% had used or planned to use AI to learn about a candidate or ballot issue; 10% had used or planned to use it to decide whom to vote for. The surveys asked different questions.
A Sept. 16 study by the Center for Campaign Innovation examined 3,816 chatbot answers about 161 House and Senate candidates across 80 races. Campaign websites appeared in 55% of answers and accounted for 15% of 24,555 citation instances; regional press made up about 30%. Answers citing a candidate’s own website did not receive higher favorability scores, although the study said they could still include a campaign’s preferred framing. When researchers repeated a question about a candidate using the same chatbot, favorability ratings matched 66% of the time and varied by at least one point otherwise.
Joe Bonilla, managing partner of Relentless Awareness, told Reuters he expects AI-influence work to become widespread by the 2028 presidential cycle. Minogue’s campaign says he won the Republican primary and will face Gov. Maura Healey in the Nov. 3 election.
