The ad was released by Mothers Against Greg Abbott calling for Texans to vote in the midterm election in November for candidates in favor of gun safety reforms in an effort to protect children. The PAC includes parents, family members, Democrats, moderate Republicans and independents in Texas, according to its website.

The ad release comes at the start of the new school year and a few months after the deadly Uvalde, Texas, shooting in May in which 19 children and two teachers were shot and killed at Robb Elementary School, allegedly by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who used two AR-15 rifles.

A report by the National Center for Education Statistics in June showed that “there were a total of 93 school shootings with casualties at public and private elementary and secondary schools in 2020-2021—the highest number since 2000-2001.”

Meanwhile, Mothers Against Greg Abbott wrote in the ad’s video description: “Kids all over Texas and the United States are getting ready to go back to school, but something feels different this year. Our kids are not soldiers, regardless of what the extreme right thinks. Whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, or neither, it’s time to come together and demand meaningful gun safety reform now,”

The 30-second ad starts with a song about children getting ready to go back to school and at one point says, “politicians say they make our land safe and free. They’re supposed to stand for you and me. Keep our children safe for you and me.” The ad then concludes with a black screen with words that read, “Our children are not soldiers. Vote for change on November 8th.”

Texans for Greg Abbott, the governor’s reelection campaign, released an ad one day after the back-to-school ad went live. The video begins with the voice of Abbott’s wife, Cecilia, talking about how they met, raising their children, and her husband’s paralyzing accident. It concludes with her saying, “Hard work, perseverance and family—that’s what defines Greg Abbott and how he governs Texas.”

Abbott is set to face former Democratic Representative Beto O’Rourke, who was 7 points behind in survey results by the Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler. Only 39 percent of registered voters supported O’Rourke, while 46 percent supported Abbott. The poll was carried out from August 1 to August 7 among 1,384 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 points.

The Mothers Against Greg Abbott movement was founded by a Texas mother, Nancy Thompson, who posted a photo of herself in 2021 protesting at the Texas Capitol while holding a sign that read “Mothers Against Greg Abbott” that went viral. She was protesting Abbott’s order to ban mask mandates at the time. After that, a Facebook page with the same name was created.

Thompson told Newsweek on Friday that the purpose of the ad is to reach solutions for gun violence.

“We cannot normalize this. We are taking away our children’s childhood and creating trauma and this is not OK. We can’t live in a society where this is normal,” she said. “We want what 80 percent of Texans want. Commonsense gun laws: Raising the age to 21 to buy semiautomatic rifles, strengthening background checks, banning high-capacity ammunition magazines, and encouraging safe gun storage.”

She also said that change in gun laws will not be achieved until Abbott is “voted out of office,” and therefore Texans “need to vote for Democrats all the way down the ballot.”

“Governor Greg Abbott has shown us who he is. He will take the side of the NRA over Texas citizens and their wants on gun-sense laws,” she added.

Newsweek reached out to Abbott’s office for comment.

Update: 8/19/22, 1:18 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from Nancy Thompson, the founder of Mothers Against Greg Abbott.