WASHINGTON – Minnesota small business owner Beth Benike was watching the Netflix show “Bridgerton” on Monday night when she noticed a familiar image in a political ad that aired during a commercial break: the exact shot of Democratic congressional nominee Jake Johnson from a photo she’d been in with him last year.

Except in this attack ad from Johnson’s opponent, Republican Rep. Brad Finstad, Benike wasn’t in the photo anymore. In her place, in what appeared to be an AI-generated image, was Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.

Just as bizarre to Benike is why Finstad, her congressman, was using a photo with her in it at all: she’s been a very public critic of his support for President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

After being named Minnesota’s Small Business Person of the Year in March 2025, Benike was making news days later talking about struggling because of Trump’s tariffs. She reached out to Finstad several times for help, but said he didn’t offer any. When she twice tried to meet with him in Washington, D.C., he declined. She met Johnson in April, when he heard her story and asked if he could come to her warehouse to learn more about tariffs.

That’s where they ended up in a photo together, and why Benike quickly recognized Johnson’s image in Finstad’s campaign ad. She said she remembers that day “really clearly,” including what Johnson was wearing and where they were standing in her warehouse.

“I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” Benike told HuffPost, with a weak laugh. “My own congressman wouldn’t even talk to me in my time of deepest need that he was directly impacting and continuing to make worse, and now he’s using a photo taken at my warehouse and took me out of it? Can you make someone feel any less significant?”

You can see the image for yourself. On the left, the real photo of Benike with Johnson, which he shared on Facebook in April 2025. On the right, the manipulated image of Johnson with Walz in Finstad’s campaign ad.

It’s not clear why Finstad’s campaign thought it would be a good idea to use a photo with Benike in it, remove her from it and then doctor it to make it look like Johnson is actually in a photo with Walz, giving him a thumbs up. Johnson, a math teacher for the last 20 years, is making his first political bid in Minnesota’s 1st congressional district.

“What a poor decision,” said Benike. “You’d better believe I’m going to be sharing this with the people that have been following my story.... It almost feels like an attack, like ’we’ll show how insignificant she is.”

Finstad’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Johnson campaign spokesperson Nik Marda knocked Finstad for “fabricating fake photos because he can’t defend his record.”

“He’s trying to trick people,” Marda said in a statement. “But the voters of southern Minnesota won’t be distracted from Finstad’s votes to raise prices, continue the Iran War, and give tax breaks to data center companies.”

Finstad, a two-term congressman and former USDA administrator, is well positioned to win reelection. Trump won this district in 2024 by 11 percentage points, and Finstad did even better, winning it by 17 percentage points. The GOP incumbent has held a narrow lead in polling, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates this seat as “likely Republican.”

But it’s not a done deal. Despite being a first-time candidate, Johnson has kept pace with Finstad’s fundraising and is running for Congress as Democrats have the wind at their backs. Trump’s approval rating is at a historic low, and voters nationwide blame his tariffs and war in Iran for their economic struggles. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which helps elect Democrats to the House, added Johnson to its red-to-blue program in July, meaning it sees a path to him flipping this seat.

Benike, a 10-year Army veteran whose business, Busy Baby, landed her an appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2021, conceded to HuffPost that she didn’t vote in the last election.

“I didn’t think votes mattered,” she said. “I learned the hard way, it does matter. If you don’t stand up, nobody is going to stand up. I need support for my business.”

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