AI-Generated Image of Georgia Mayor Spreads Misinformation, Raising Concerns About Election Integrity

A fake image of Bianca Motley Broom, the mayor of College Park, Georgia, kissing a man who was not her husband in a bar has gone viral on Facebook. The fact that it was fabricated is spreading even faster, but only after thousands had seen it.

The ease with which this image was created highlights the growing threat of deepfakes and misinformation driven by artificial intelligence. Six years ago, when Motley Broom first took office in the Atlanta suburb, a political enemy would have needed some skill with image-editing software to forge an image of a politician in a compromising position.

Today, all that is required is a computer and a prompt for an AI image generator. This has significant implications for election integrity, as voters are increasingly concerned about the spread of fake images and videos on social media.

A poll taken by Rad Campaign and Women Who Tech found that 71% of respondents worry about AI-generated deepfakes and disinformation affecting elections. Two in three respondents also expressed concern about AI being used to sexualize women.

The findings show a growing awareness among Americans about the potential risks associated with AI, particularly when it comes to election interference. The Trump administration has already demonstrated its willingness to use AI imagery, including digitally altering an image of Nekima Levy Armstrong to make her appear distressed and darker-skinned.

A picture of her calmly being escorted by a DHS agent was altered so that she appeared to be crying, and her skin had been darkened. Kaelan Dorr, the White House deputy communications director, later described the image as a ‘meme’.

Fake images of Zohran Mamdani, New York’s mayor, also began circulating from a parody account on X in February, falsely depicting him and his mother in the company of Jeffrey Epstein. Using Google’s SynthID tool, Reuters debunked the images, but not before other accounts had recirculated them as authentic.

Despite significant apprehension around the potential economic consequences of AI, concern about deepfake images being used to sexualize women or children, or to influence elections, outstrips concern about AI affecting jobs by a ratio of three to one. The public is deeply concerned, according to Allyson Kapin, founder of Rad Campaign and co-founder of Women Who Tech.

Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democratic senator, has spoken out about the issue in a video posted on Facebook. He noted that deepfake images had been circulating online falsely depicting him with health problems, with an armful of grandchildren he does not have – and with a full head of hair, which he said was funny if problematic.

As these tools become increasingly powerful, it will get harder and harder to distinguish fact from fiction, Warnock warned. There are already bad actors out there who are doing everything they can to divide us and confuse us. This has huge implications for our democracy.

What if hours before an election, someone created a page with AI-generated images, fake stories about the candidates – how will voters know what’s true and what’s not? Warnock is among a group of Senate Democrats who have been war-gaming political responses to possible election interference scenarios.

Chief among those scenarios: disinformation driven by fabricated images or videos circulated through social media. The outgoing US senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, offered a bill last week requiring AI firms to install a ‘kill switch’ for rogue AI.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked Kennedy’s bill, describing the effort as premature without additional industry input. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, said in an interview that government should move ‘urgently’ on AI regulations broadly, calling for ‘guardrails to protect the American people from bad actors and bad behavior’.

Jeffries noted that Republicans attempted to pass legislation pre-empting states from regulating AI last year as part of the omnibus One Big Beautiful Bill. The amendment failed on a 99-1 vote in the Senate.

Some states have legislation like Tennessee’s Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act – the Elvis Act, which protects politicians and residents alike from AI voice cloning and digital likeness replication using the state’s robust right-of-publicity protections that are a product of Nashville’s recording industry.

Clear disclaimers are legally required in most states when a political campaign uses AI to manipulate the speeches, appearances or actions of officials or candidates. Georgia is not one of them.

While legislators in Georgia began debating deepfake protections in bills proposed in 2024 and 2025, they have not yet enacted legislation. Motley Broom said she believed she was targeted by political opponents who objected to her role as a past president of the Georgia Municipal Association.

I have worked for my city to try to be the best advocate I can be on behalf of College Park,