Greg Abbott Controversy Texas

Greg Abbott's Campaign Used a Murdered 9-Year-Old's Photo in an Attack Ad. Her Mother Says No One Asked Her.

Greg Abbott's re-election campaign ran an ad holding up a photo of Arlene Alvarez, a 9-year-old shot to death in Houston in 2022, and blamed her death on 'liberal policies.' Her mother says she never agreed to it, that the ad set off harassment of her family, and that she has now stepped back from the law she was pushing in Arlene's name.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 29, 2026

Arlene Alvarez was 9 years old when she was shot in the head on Valentine's Day 2022, riding in the back seat of her family's pickup truck in Houston. This month, Greg Abbott's re-election campaign put her photo in a political ad.

Her mother, Wendy Alvarez, says nobody asked her.

"I did not agree to make my daughter part of anyone's political campaign. I did not agree to use her tragedy to influence votes," she wrote in a Facebook post, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.

What the ad does

The ad features April Aguirre, a family friend who calls Arlene her niece and became a victims' advocate after the killing. She holds up a photo of Arlene and says:

"I became a victim's advocate when my 9-year-old niece was murdered. That's why public safety is personal to me."

She goes on to praise Abbott's public safety record and accuses his Democratic opponent, Gina Hinojosa, of backing policies that put "criminal illegal immigrants and murderers" back on the street. The video went up on Abbott's YouTube channel on October 19. His campaign promoted it on October 21 with a statement claiming Arlene's death was the result of "liberal policies that allow violent criminals to roam freely."

That's a big claim to put on a child's death. The man who killed Arlene, Tony Earls Jr., opened fire on the Alvarez family's truck after wrongly believing that a man who had just robbed him had gotten inside, according to Chron, the Houston Chronicle's sister site. In September 2025, a Harris County jury found him guilty of manslaughter and gave him 20 years, the maximum for that charge.

The campaign's answer: we didn't ask

The Abbott campaign told Chron that Aguirre brought the photo herself, took part voluntarily and wasn't paid. Asked whether anyone got permission from Arlene's mother, a spokesperson said they weren't aware of that happening. The campaign also said it hadn't received any request to take the ad down and wouldn't address the mother's objections.

Later, after the story spread, a spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle the ad had since rotated out and that the campaign had not had any contact with Wendy Alvarez.

So the campaign built an ad around a child's murder, blamed her death on its opponent's side, and by its own account never checked with her mother.

Abbott knew this family

This wasn't a family the governor had never met. Wendy Alvarez has met Abbott, taken a photo with him and asked for his support for "Arlene's Law," a bill to toughen penalties after her daughter's death. She says that was never an endorsement of his politics:

"My fight was never about Republicans or Democrats. It was never about immigration or turning against my own people."

There's another connection the ad doesn't mention. Abbott appointed Aguirre, the woman in the ad, to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct in January 2025, and reappointed her in June 2026. That commission handles complaints of misconduct against Texas judges.

The family is paying for it

Once the ad started circulating on Facebook, some people criticized the use of Arlene's photo. Others turned their anger on her family. Wendy Alvarez said the backlash came from the same community that had stood beside her:

"Houston, you stood beside us when my nine-year-old daughter, Arlene, was taken from us. You shared her pictures, spoke her name, prayed for our family, and helped us fight for justice."

Aguirre told the Chronicle she supported her friend's post and that the harassment had only gotten worse since. "People shouldn't be attacked," she said. "This is so wrong."

And it has cost something beyond the family's peace. Wendy Alvarez has stepped back from pushing Arlene's Law. She said the political fight over her daughter's death has left her emotionally exhausted.

"Arlene was not a political party. She was not a campaign slogan. She was my baby."

A pattern of closing ads

This is one of several ads Abbott has aimed at Hinojosa in the final weeks of the race. One claimed she "voted to allow for parents to be prosecuted for child abuse," when her no vote allowed nothing and Abbott himself had ordered child-abuse investigations of parents of trans kids. Days before the election he told Fox News she "supports Sharia law," and his evidence was a Muslim civil rights group's endorsement.

In this one, the evidence was a dead child's photo, used without her mother's permission.

The bottom line

Greg Abbott's campaign ran an ad showing a photo of 9-year-old Arlene Alvarez, who was shot to death in Houston in 2022, and blamed her death on "liberal policies." The campaign never got her mother's permission. The mother says the ad brought harassment on her family and drove her to step back from the law she was pushing in Arlene's name. The woman in the ad is someone Abbott twice appointed to a state commission.