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Senior political analyst Juan Williams criticizes several candidates in the 2026 midterm elections for employing increasingly unethical and deceptive political advertising tactics.

Democrats have leaned into outrage surrounding Jeffrey Epstein to whip up voter sentiment, spending over $36 million on Epstein-related ads in the 2026 midterm elections, according to an AdImpact analysis cited by Politico. Epstein has become a central theme as part of the midterm cycle, with candidates often trading accusations over who was somehow connected […]

The 2026 midterms have taken a deeply personal turn as campaigns use other people's family tragedies as political ammunition — sometimes over the objections of the families themselves. Why it matters: Some attack ads feature photographs of murdered children and anguished 911 calls, forcing grieving families to relive their worst moments. Georgia governor race: Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson used images of murdered 8-year-old Secoriea Turner and her mother's anguished 911 call to attack Democratic rival Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta's former mayor. Turner's family demanded the ads come down, accusing the campaign of exploiting their grief without permission. Jackson said he would keep airing them . Ohio governor race: Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign is spending $4 million on an ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. In the ad, Donna Arthur calls her daughter a liar and disputes her account of childhood homelessness. Acton says her late stepfather — who was married to her mother until his death — sexually abused her as a child, and she hasn't spoken to her mother in decades. Acton's brother corroborated her account , while court records and contemporary news reports support key details. President Trump urged Ramaswamy to keep running his attack on Acton, despite objections from some fellow Republicans. Between the lines: Ramaswamy's campaign said the ad tested well with persuadable voters , even as critics warned it could backfire. Ohio Senate race: A Republican attack ad against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown featured images of a couple and their 1-year-old son killed in a highway crash to blame Brown's immigration policies. The victims' family demanded its removal , saying nobody sought permission to use their relatives' images or tragedy. North Carolina Senate race: A Republican super PAC featured a grieving father in an attack ad linking the murder of his 23-year-old son to former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's prison policies. The father said he felt deceived about the ad's purpose. The group disputes his account, while fact-checkers found no connection between the killer and Cooper's prisoner-release agreement. Yes, but: Some survivors willingly share their trauma to challenge politicians' decisions. In Nebraska, Jody Snogren voluntarily appeared in an ad attacking Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts for his 2022 vote to pardon John Arias, who pleaded guilty to raping her. Snogren told The 19th she chose to tell her story to inform voters and had no regrets. Ricketts expressed sympathy for Snogren but defended the pardon , noting Arias had served his full sentence and the pardon came decades after the crime.

The 2026 midterm elections are set to become the most expensive on record, as Republicans pour cash into battleground races to defy history and maintain control of Congress. Political advertising spending for this year surpassed $10 billion in October, marking an all-time high, according to media tracking group AdImpact, driven by record spending in states […]

From Vivek Ramaswamy's toxic Ohio ad to Ken Paxton's AI-generated spots in Texas, the 2026 midterms are now drowning in political attack ads.

In Cincinnati, the vice president said it was "not really my concern" whether the controversial 60-second spot was appropriate, and said he was focused on supporting Republican candidates in their midterm races.

And the award for most misleading ad of the 2026 midterm cycle goes to….Abdul El-Sayed, for a new ad titled “Prayer” in which the Muslim Democrat candidate for Senate in Michigan leans over in what looks like your grandfather’s living room to reflect on his life of faith. El-Sayed is not happy with the president ...