‘The President is not popular’: GOP candidate cuts apparent AI prompt from website

A Republican candidate in Minnesota has deleted a phrase from his campaign website stating that President Trump is unpopular, a mention that appeared to be a prompt given to AI to generate a message for the candidate.

Eric Pratt, running in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, initially included an instructional phrase about how to craft a message on affordability.

“Residents want everyday purchases to be affordable, bad actors to be held accountable, and for their reps to lead with common sense,” the website read. “The President is not popular, so all messaging should be focused on local politics and needs.”

The first sentence remains on his site, but the prompt about the president has been deleted.

Pratt’s apparent blunder went viral online, and an archive of the website on the Wayback Machine reviewed by The Hill confirms the phrase was included.

In a statement to The Hill, a Pratt campaign spokesperson accused Minnesota Democrats of using the prompt to distract from the campaign’s central issues.

“While Eric is focused on representing the residents of the Second Congressional District, the DFL wants to make this race about anything but the issues that actually matter here: making life more affordable, holding people accountable, and keeping our communities safe,” the campaign said. “Instead, they focus on an internal staff note that was inadvertently included on a website update.”

Republican candidates are increasingly distancing themselves from the president as his popularity reaches record lows ahead of the midterms. A New York Times/Siena University Poll out Wednesday put the president’s approval rating at just 36 percent among likely voters, with 59 percent disapproving.

Some GOP candidates in battleground districts around the country are leaving off mentions of Trump on their campaign websites. Even in Florida, where the statewide races lean toward Republicans this cycle, the Republican nominee for governor, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), removed several mentions of the president from his website.

Across competitive Senate races, Republicans are calling for an end to the Iran war. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) and former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), both running for Senate, called for an immediate end to the war, as did Ohio Sen. Jon Husted (R), who is in a tough fight for reelection.

In traditionally Republican Kansas, Sen. Roger Marshall (R), also fighting for reelection, criticized immigration enforcement operations in his state.

Pratt already had long odds to flip Minnesota’s 2nd, an open seat being vacated by Rep. Angie Craig (D). Nonpartisan election forecaster Decision Desk HQ, a partner of The Hill, gives Pratt just a 3 percent chance of defeating Democrat Matt Little.