Nancy Mace Cornered on Her Fake AI Photos With Trump

"I have pictures with the president that are real, like that's not AI.", Nancy Mace

Three days before the South Carolina gubernatorial primary, The Daily Beast reported on an on-air confrontation in which Mace was challenged about AI-generated photos she had shared depicting her alongside President Trump. The photos, which circulated during her campaign, were reported by The Daily Beast to have been identified as artificially generated, a significant problem for a candidate whose central pitch to Republican primary voters was her relationship with Trump.

Mace denied the photos were fake. She then pivoted to accuse her opponent, Lt. Gov. Pam Evette, of the same conduct:

"But my opponent, Pam Evette, has put out fake AI videos of me, which is sort of scary to see that happening."

She followed with a character argument against Evette:

"If you have to use crazy fake videos and make up the wildest things about your opponent, that says a lot more about your character than it ever will about mine."

The exchange illustrated a recurring pattern in Mace's political communications during the governor's race: denying a damaging claim while simultaneously leveling the same accusation at a rival. The story published three days before the primary, in which Mace finished last among the three major candidates with 11.6 percent of the vote, far behind Evette and AG Alan Wilson.