AUSTIN, Texas — Texans everywhere have been receiving political mailers from campaigns ahead of the March primary election.
While the mailers are nothing new, one in Travis County has a lot of people talking on social media.
A flyer posted on Reddit features a bloody teddy bear and attacks incumbent District Attorney José Garza, claiming that he's "filling the streets with pedophiles and killers."
There have also been advertisements with similar messaging running on streaming apps.
Did Garza's Democratic primary challenger pay for these?
Users on social media wondered if Garza's challenger, Jeremy Sylestine, paid for the attacks. But the Democratic challenger quickly shot the possibility down.
"I want to make unequivocally clear that I, and my campaign, denounce the demagogic mailer by the so-called Saving Austin PAC attacking José Garza," Sylestine wrote on social media. "That extreme rhetoric and imagery should have no place in this race."
But if his campaign didn't pay for it, who did?
Saving Austin PAC? Or Save Austin Now?
The fine print on the flyer says it was paid for by a group called "Saving Austin PAC." However, search results of the group point to a local political action committee called "Save Austin Now."
One of the co-founders of that PAC, Travis County GOP Chairman Matt Mackowiak, posted that the "Saving Austin PAC is not Save Austin Now PAC. We are not involved in any way ... I know nothing about it."
So who is behind Saving Austin? It appears to be a group based in North Texas. The address points to a strip mall near Interstate 635 in Irving. According to the Texas Ethics Commission's database, the group is not registered with the state, so it remains unclear who is behind it.
Garza's response
On Friday, Garza's campaign team issued a cease and desist against Saving Austin's campaign.
In the letter, the campaign called Saving Austin a "sham organization" and claimed the group is operating illegally by extensively campaigning and not disclosing its expenses.
"Austin voters deserve to know who is spending dark money to try to defeat DA Garza and elect Jeremy Sylestine," the letter said.