The Clay County Republican Executive Committee posted an image on their Facebook October 24th, 2026 at 3:02 PM featuring the party’s candidates in the Nov. 3 general election. The image appears to have been created with artificial intelligence, as evidenced by the Facebook “AI content” label applied to the post. The figure labeled as U.S. Rep. Carol Miller differs from her official photographs.
The post was labeled as AI-generated by Facebook. According to Facebook the “AI Content” label indicates “Content in this post may have been created with AI This is based on a signal added by the tool used to create the content. This signal typically identifies content that was entirely AI-generated instead of content that was only modified with AI.” As of 3:30 PM on October 27th, 2026, the post and image was still on the committee’s page.
(a) AI Generated Image of Congresswoman Carol Miller.
Source: Clay County Republican Executive Committee via. Facebook Post [cropped]
(b) Real Image of Congresswoman Carol Miller.
Source: “Congresswoman Miller to Tour Green Bank Observatory – Green Bank Observatory.” Green Bank Observatory. December 2, 2019. https://greenbankobservatory.org/news/congresswoman-miller-to-tour-green-bank-observatory/.
Who Miller is
Miller, a Huntington Republican, has represented West Virginia’s 1st Congressional District since 2023. The district includes Clay County. Before redistricting she represented the former 3rd District from 2019 to 2023.
On Nov. 3, Miller faces Democrat Vince George and Constitution Party candidate Belinda Fox-Spencer.
What state law says
West Virginia does not have a law that specifically regulates AI-generated images in political communications. Lawmakers proposed rules in each of the last two legislative sessions, and neither bill passed. Both were sponsored by Republicans.
Senate Bill 484, introduced in 2025 by Sens. Woodrum and Oliverio, would have barred distributing AI-manipulated images, audio or video of a candidate within 90 days of an election without a clear disclaimer, which with the assistance of Meta’s Facebook a label was applied to the post. It applied only when the distributor knew the media misrepresented the person, lacked that person’s consent, and intended to injure a candidate or influence the election. Which clearly is not the case here, as the republican party would not be expected to misrepresent it’s own candidate. The Senate Judiciary Committee recommended the bill in February 2025, but it was sent to the Rules Committee on March 4 and saw no further action.
House Bill 4496, introduced Jan. 19, 2026, by Del. Flanigan and 10 co-sponsors, would have required a clear label on any media created or substantially altered with AI, political or not. It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and received no further action.
Response
The Clay Communicator contacted the email listed for the page on Oct. 26th, 2026. We asked how the image was made and whether the committee planned to update the post. The Committee did not respond by press time.
The Republican Executive Committee’s next meeting will take place Tuesday, October 27th, 2026 at 7pm at the Clay County Business Development Authority.
Voting
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Early voting runs through Saturday, Oct. 31. Voters can check who is on their ballot and see candidate photos on the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website.
More in Politics and Elections
- What’s on the Ballot in Clay County: Your 2026 General Election GuideOct 27, 2026
- Mail Ballots, Early Voting, Machines and Voter ID: What Do You Think?Oct 26, 2026
- West Virginia Voters to Decide on Proposed Citizenship Voting AmendmentOct 22, 2026
- Charleston No Kings Rally Highlights Protest, Voting and Government AccountabilityOct 18, 2026
Editor’s note: The image labeled (a) above was generated by artificial intelligence and is not a photograph of Rep. Carol Miller. It is shown here only to report on its use.
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