El Paso Justice of the Peace Lucilla “Lucy” Najera is catching heat over a glossy campaign mailer that appears to feature an AI-generated portrait of the incumbent. Voters in Precinct 5 will decide her political future in a May 26 runoff, with early voting scheduled for May 18 through May 22.
How reporters spotted an AI portrait
When local reporters zoomed in on the mailer, the image started to fall apart. The portrait showed telltale AI-style “hallucinations,” including pearl earrings hanging at odd angles, eyeglass frames that seem to melt into an ear, a blurred county seal and a necklace that loses definition halfway around the neck, according to the El Paso Herald Post. The outlet reproduced the mailer and walked through visual glitches that researchers say are common in generative-image systems.
Najera apologizes; campaign calls it a production error
Najera’s campaign has apologized and tried to put distance between the judge and the design choice. The image was “an unintentional error in production,” and staff have taken steps to correct the piece, the campaign told the El Paso Herald Post. The campaign did not say whether an AI tool was actually used in creating the portrait.
Earlier missteps drew official pushback
This is not the first time Najera’s mail has raised eyebrows this election cycle. In February, a campaign piece used the wrong Paso del Norte Tejano Democrats logo and drew a cease-and-desist letter from the group, according to El Paso News. Local reporting also flagged another mailer that misspelled “runoff” as “runoof,” a typo that left some voters and party insiders more annoyed than amused.
State disclosure rules are unsettled
The flap over the portrait lands in the middle of a broader fight in Austin about how campaigns use AI and other altered media. In April 2025, the Texas House approved HB 366, a bill that would require conspicuous disclosures on political ads containing altered media and would task the Texas Ethics Commission with setting the disclosure format and enforcing potential penalties, according to the bill text from the Texas Legislature.
Academic research shows AI can sway opinions
Researchers have been warning that AI tools are not just cosmetic. A study published on arXiv and presented at ACL 2025 found that people who interacted with partisan-biased language models were significantly more likely to adopt the model’s positions, even when the bias ran against their original views, according to arXiv. The paper also found that prior awareness of AI moderated, but did not eliminate, the effect.
What voters should watch before May 26
Early voting for the May runoffs runs Monday, May 18, through Friday, May 22, and Election Day is Tuesday, May 26, according to the El Paso County Elections Department. Najera faces challenger Dora Oaxaca in the Precinct 5 runoff, a matchup local outlets have been tracking closely, as reported by El Paso News.
Whether the AI-style portrait actually moves votes is anyone’s guess, but it has injected a fresh transparency question into an already contentious lower-court race. For now, voters and watchdogs alike are watching to see whether campaigns start voluntarily disclosing their AI use or wait until state rules force their hand.
