Van Orden hit with cease and desist letter from Democratic opponent over AI deepfake ads

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) was hit with a cease and desist letter from his Democratic opponent , Rebecca Cooke, after the lawmaker aired AI deepfake campaign advertisements about her.

“Not only are these ads beneath the dignity of your office, but Wisconsin’s common law of defamation fills the gaps yet remaining in Wisconsin’s statutory protections against fake AI videos,” reads the letter, which Cooke shared on social media.

Cooke’s lawyer wrote the videos “undermine our democratic process” and said it was “the exact kind of mudslinging voters are tired of.”

“You are indisputably posting videos falsely conveying that Ms. Cooke has made particular statements,” the letter continued, accusing Van Orden’s campaign of airing the ads “for the patently obvious purpose of harming Ms. Cooke’s reputation for your own political advantage.”

Van Orden responded to Cooke’s letter on social media with another AI-generated deepfake video of his Democratic opponent as a red bird with a Democratic Socialists of America shirt. His other ads targeted Cooke’s financial disclosures , which revealed that she earned additional income on top of her waitress salary as a political consultant.

“Rebecca Cooke is embarrassing herself because she got busted lying again and is now trying to cover it up,” Van Orden’s campaign wrote in a statement to local outlet WEAU . “The only thing Cooke is really concerned about is that people are finally getting to see her for what she is: an untrustworthy political hack who is willing to say or do anything for power.”

It is unclear whether Van Orden violated Wisconsin defamation statutes , which make it illegal for any person “with knowledge that it is false” to publicize “any false and unauthorized advertisement.”

The race between Van Orden and Cooke has been classified as a “toss-up” House seat in central and western Wisconsin, according to Cook Political Report .

Cooke lost to Van Orden in 2024 by just more than 11,000 votes, but Democrats targeted a new angle: the lawmaker’s ties to President Trump. Trump’s popularity slipped to its lowest point in September amid his ongoing tariff war with Canada, which is Wisconsin’s largest trading partner in 2025, according to the U.S. trade representative’s office .

Democrats have also targeted Van Orden’s appearance at Trump’s rally before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.