New Mexico: the state Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint, reported on 2 October 2026, over two Senate Republican social media posts from September 2026 that it says used misleading AI-generated images, including a fake jail mugshot of Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart that she publicly asked to be taken down

The Santa Fe New Mexican (Daniel J. Chacón, 24 September 2026; read through its Yahoo News syndication) reports that after word got out that Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, an Albuquerque Democrat, had driven over someone's foot in Santa Fe in 2024, Republicans accused her of a hit-and-run. Republican Sen. Jay Block of Rio Rancho posted on social media a fake photo of Stewart made to look like a jail mugshot using artificial intelligence. The image showed her ostensibly booked into the Bernalillo County jail on charges of 'hit and run' and 'abusive behavior towards staff and other lawmakers'. The newspaper writes that Block's posts indicate the mugshot was AI-generated, that the X post had been shared more than 100 times, and that the Senate Republican caucus shared the post on its own accounts alongside a news release calling on Stewart to step down.

Stewart was not issued a citation or booked into jail, and the incident did not occur in Bernalillo County, as the image suggests. Santa Fe police interim Chief Ben Valdez said in an email that the incident was not considered a hit and run crash. The caucus issued a corrected news release acknowledging that Stewart did not appear to leave the scene. Block told the newspaper that everything on the post was accurate with the information he was given, that he stands by it and that he has no plans to take it down. In a statement, Stewart said his post used an AI-generated image of her staged as a mugshot to manufacture answers by insinuation, and she asked Block and the Republican caucus to take down the fabricated image.

KRQE (Jordan Honeycutt, 2 October 2026) reports that the Democratic Party of New Mexico has filed an ethics complaint saying two Republican social media posts used images created with artificial intelligence. One is Block's mugshot-like image of Stewart, which KRQE says mentions criminal charges she never faced. The other is an image that Senate Republican leader Bill Sharer and the Senate Republicans shared on Facebook in September, weeks before Block's post, showing House Speaker Javier Martinez wearing a Soviet Union pin, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland with her arm around a man in an orange jumpsuit, and former state Rep. Joseph Hernandez naked and holding a sign. The party calls both 'misleading AI generated images' that violate a 2024 state law on deepfakes and wants the posts removed and the posters fined. KRQE reports that a statement from Sharer did not address the issues mentioned in the complaint. The inspected sources carry no statement from Martinez, Haaland or Hernandez, and the AI-generated character of the Facebook image rests on the party's complaint.

A state Senate leader was depicted in a fake jail mugshot, which the poster's own posts indicate was AI-generated, listing charges she never faced; she publicly asked for the fabricated image to be taken down, and the poster said he stands by the post and has no plans to take it down. The state Democratic Party alleges in an ethics complaint that this image and a Facebook image of three other Democratic politicians are misleading AI-generated images.

The Democratic Party of New Mexico has filed an ethics complaint, reported by KRQE on 2 October 2026, asking that the posts be removed and the posters fined; the body it was filed with and the filing date are not stated. In a statement reported by KRQE, Sen. Sharer criticised Democrats for not holding their own members accountable and did not address the complaint. Block told the Santa Fe New Mexican that he stands by the mugshot post and has no plans to take it down. No ruling or removal is reported.