A Democratic opposition research powerhouse is putting massive troves of its work product online ahead of the midterms. And it’s using artificial intelligence to help everyone from campaigns to podcasters figure out how to navigate it.
The project from American Bridge 21st Century, shared first with POLITICO, reflects an expansion of its efforts ahead of the 2026 midterms — as well as the evolving nature of political campaigning, including oppo research, in an increasingly fragmented media environment.
“Swing voters are generally speaking getting their information very ambiently,” American Bridge President Pat Dennis said in an interview.
A challenge in recent election cycles, he said, has not been a lack of opposition research, but rather how to best convey it when more voters are getting political news from podcasts, social media influencers or group chats. “If people can’t find it or read it, it’s no good,” Dennis said.
The new tool, titled Research Books, is a public-facing website featuring opposition research on dozens of Republican candidates in races that American Bridge has identified as crucial to deciding control of Congress. It also includes select statewide candidates.
Pages for each candidate feature messaging around key votes, candidate-specific research and — in some races — videos from Democratic trackers and sample media based on the oppo that closely resemble campaign ads.
It also includes an AI-powered search tool that aims to bring together different sources about a candidate into cohesive messaging. (The AI agent only probes the super PAC’s internal database, not external sources or the wider internet.)
Results from the search link back to original sources, which include news articles, videos and public records. The tool also integrates with other external large language model platforms such as ChatGPT.
The notion of publishing opposition research files online, rather than keeping them closely held by party operatives for strategic deployment, is not entirely new for American Bridge. Ahead of the 2020 election, the group posted 1,043 pages of opposition research about President Donald Trump online for use by other Democratic groups.
Sharing such research publicly is a way for super PACs to avoid running afoul of campaign finance laws that prohibit direction coordination.
Because the new research tool is publicly available online, it could similarly be used by Democratic campaigns or other outside groups — though American Bridge hopes the uptake is broader than that, including among influencers and voters.
For its initial public rollout, Research Books includes 15 GOP House incumbents in seats Democrats are hoping to flip this year, along with Republican Senate candidates in four seats Democrats are trying to flip, as well as Georgia, where Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is seeking reelection.
The initial list also includes 15 candidates for governor or attorney general in key states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Hampshire and Iowa.
The inclusion of attorney general candidates, newer territory for American Bridge, reflects in part the greater role that they have played in suing the Trump administration, Dennis said. He expects the tool to include more races and candidates as the midterms near, with the super PAC seeking to help Democrats cast a broad net.
“There are times where opposition research can fundamentally reshape a race, so we prefer to take an expansive view on this,” he said.
