Colorado Official Circulates AI Image Showing Gov Candidate With Devil Horns
Critics call the graphic a centuries-old antisemitic trope prompting demands that Republican leaders publicly repudiate the post.
Overview
- A Montrose County commissioner, Sean Pond, posted AI-generated images portraying Democratic nominee Phil Weiser with red devil horns and text promoting Republican Victor Marx.
- Journalists and the Colorado Democratic Party condemned the image as invoking a medieval antisemitic trope, noting Weiser’s Jewish background and his family’s Holocaust history.
- Pond told reporters he created the images with AI to depict Weiser "as evil," said he did not know Weiser is Jewish, and refused to apologize for the posts.
- Victor Marx publicly reacted positively to Pond’s post and urged party unity rather than denouncing the graphic, while Colorado Democrats demanded that Marx and other Republicans condemn it.
- The episode highlights how synthetic political imagery can spread quickly online and raises fresh questions about accountability for AI-generated campaign material and party leadership responses.