Campaigns court chatbots as 1 in 4 voters ask
US election campaigns are shaping web pages so AI chatbots recommend their candidates, Reuters reported on the 26th of October 2026. About 1 in 4 eligible voters have asked a chatbot about a candidate.
Visigent's plan to sway AI chatbotsUS election campaigns are shaping web pages so AI chatbots recommend their candidates, Reuters reported in an exclusive on the 26th of October 2026. The chatbots named include OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini.
About 1 in 4 eligible voters have asked a chatbot about a candidate before deciding how to vote, Cameron Hickey told Reuters. He runs the National Conference on Citizenship, a US group.
The Visigent pitch for Mike Minogue
Reuters saw a slide deck made by Visigent, a firm in Austin, Texas, for Mike Minogue. He is the Republican running against Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.
The deck planned hundreds of policy pages written for AI, and paid spots on websites that chatbots often quote. It also planned YouTube and Reddit posts, and checking chatbot answers until they match his views.
The Minogue campaign did not return calls and emails, Reuters wrote.
What the method is called
The method has a name: generative engine optimization, or GEO. It grew out of search engine optimization, the old way to rank high on Google.
What it costs
Visigent chief Thomas Howell said political fees start at 5,000 dollars a month. With paid ads or work with online stars, fees can reach 50,000 dollars a month.
The deck shows a top bonus of 200,000 dollars for a "category win". CampSight, a tool for left leaning candidates, charges 9 to 250 dollars a month.
Below we break down the fees
At 50,000 dollars a month, a year of Visigent's top service costs 600,000 dollars, by our arithmetic. A year of CampSight's top plan costs 3,000 dollars, or 200 times less.
What is confirmed and what is not
Only Reuters has seen the Visigent deck. Other outlets copied its report.
The fees come from the firms themselves.
Howell said Visigent has 6 political campaigns as clients but would not name them.
Key facts
Reuters reported the story on the 26th of October 2026.
About 1 in 4 eligible voters asked a chatbot about a candidate.
Visigent's deck was made for Mike Minogue in Massachusetts.
The method is called generative engine optimization.