Lone Star Left Endorses Alisa Simmons For Tarrant County Judge

Why Alisa Simmons is the leader Tarrant County needs now.

I don’t endorse candidates lightly. Anyone who’s read my work for more than five minutes knows that. I’m interested in who shows up when it’s uncomfortable, who speaks when silence would be safer, and who keeps fighting when the room turns hostile.

That’s why I’m endorsing Alisa Simmons for Tarrant County Judge.

I first met Alisa years ago, before she ever held county office, when she was still president of the Arlington NAACP. It was one of those early-morning political breakfast meetings. I had one of my kids with me that day (she couldn’t have been more than six or seven), and Alisa sat right down next to her. By the time plates were cleared, my daughter had a new best friend.

I’ve always believed you can tell a lot about people by who children naturally gravitate toward. That moment stuck with me. And so did everything that came after.

Since then, I’ve watched Alisa Simmons do exactly what she promised she would do. Stand up, speak out, and refuse to be intimidated. Whether the issue was jail deaths, voter suppression, racist redistricting, or a county judge who thought telling a Black woman to “sit down and be quiet” was acceptable behavior in public office.

As her constituent, I don’t experience Alisa Simmons as a headline or a soundbite. She remembers my kids. She asks how they’re doing. She listens. And when she goes into those chambers, she carries Southeast Tarrant County with her, even when she’s the lone voice willing to say what everyone else is afraid to name.

That’s leadership.

And it’s the type of leadership that Tarrant County desperately needs.

Why electing Alisa Simmons in 2026 is urgent.

Tarrant County is a majority-minority county. The county judge is one of the most powerful positions in local government, setting the agenda, shaping budgets, influencing law enforcement priorities, and determining whose voices are welcomed in the room and whose are dismissed.

In a county like Tarrant, that office should reflect the people who live here. Instead, under Tim O’Hare, it has been weaponized against them.

O’Hare’s tenure has been a case study in how abuse of power operates in plain sight. Through procedure, tone, and retaliation. Through cutting off public comment. Through mocking and belittling a Black woman colleague in open court. Through advancing racist redistricting maps that dismantle Black political power and then pretending it was all just “politics.” Through governing as though accountability itself were an act of insubordination.

It’s been about how power responds when it’s challenged by someone who refuses to play along.

Alisa Simmons challenged it. She asked questions about jail deaths when others wanted to move on. She opposed budget decisions that harmed girls and working families. She named voter suppression when it was dressed up as administrative housekeeping. And for that, she was targeted. Her district was carved apart. Her authority was publicly undermined. Her presence was treated as a problem to be solved rather than a voice to be heard.

That is how white supremacy and the patriarchy work in 2025.

The choice before us is whether this county is run by fear of accountability or by a commitment to the people who live here.

And that choice is urgent.

What it means to be Alisa Simmons’ constituent.

Being Alisa Simmons’ constituent doesn’t mean seeing her name on a ballot every few years and then wondering where she went. I know exactly where she stands, because she shows up, before the cameras, after the meetings, and long after the election signs come down.

She’s present in community spaces, at hearings most people don’t have the time or energy to sit through, and in conversations that never make the news. When people raise concerns, they’re taken seriously. Followed up on. Returned to.

When an elected official understands that their job doesn’t end when the vote is over, and that their responsibility runs in both directions. Voting for their community and showing up for their constituents. Simmons has a record of both.

As her constituent, I feel respected. When I’ve spoken to her, she listens. When she says she’ll look into something, she does. When she disagrees, she explains why. And she never forgets who she works for.

That may sound basic. It shouldn’t be rare. But in Texas, it is.

Simmons is consistent. She remembers people. She remembers kids’ names. She asks about families. And she brings those conversations back with her into county government, even when doing so makes her colleagues uncomfortable.

That’s the difference between someone who holds office and someone who carries their community with them.

Being Alisa Simmons’ constituent means knowing your voice has a path into government, through an elected official who understands that accountability is a daily obligation.

The fights she took on when no one else would.

There’s a moment in local politics when you realize who’s there to manage optics and who’s there to confront harm. Alisa Simmons made that distinction early and then kept proving it.

When people began raising alarms about deaths in the Tarrant County jail, Simmons demanded answers when officials wanted silence. And when it became clear that local leadership either couldn’t or wouldn’t address the crisis, she called for federal oversight.

That alone put her at odds with powerful interests. Sheriffs, judges, and county leadership do not welcome outside scrutiny. But Simmons understood what was at stake. These were human beings, disproportionately Black men, many with mental illness or disabilities, dying under county supervision.

The same pattern repeated itself when Girls Inc. came under threat. When budget cuts were proposed that would strip resources from an organization serving young women of color, Simmons didn’t calculate whether defending it would cost her politically. She defended it because it mattered.

She fought the elimination of free rides to the polls, too. But Simmons knew it was another barrier placed in front of working-class voters, seniors, and people without reliable transportation.

And when redistricting maps were unveiled that dismantled Black political power in Tarrant County, Simmons did not play along. She called racial gerrymandering what it was, even knowing that doing so would put a target on her back.

Every one of these fights shared a common thread. They disrupted power. And they required someone willing to stand alone.

Too often, no one else did.

Why Alisa Simmons is the right choice for County Judge.

In a county as large and complex as Tarrant, that office decides whose concerns are taken seriously, whose suffering is minimized, and whether accountability is treated as a responsibility.

We’ve seen what happens when that role is filled by someone who governs through fear and resentment.

Alisa Simmons offers the opposite.

She understands that leadership is both administrative and moral. That budgets are value documents. That agendas are power. That how you run a meeting tells people whether democracy lives there or not. She has already demonstrated, again and again, that she knows how to manage systems and challenge them when they fail the people they’re supposed to serve.

As county judge, Simmons’ priorities would shape the entire county. Transparency wouldn’t be optional. Public comment wouldn’t be treated like an inconvenience. Jail oversight wouldn’t be brushed aside. Voting access wouldn’t be narrowed. Community organizations wouldn’t be punished for serving the “wrong” people.

Most importantly, leadership wouldn’t be rooted in retaliation.

The contrast here is stark. One model of governance relies on keeping people in line and punishing those who step out of it. The other is rooted in care, accountability, and an understanding that power exists to serve the public, not dominate it.

Tarrant County doesn’t need more officials afraid of scrutiny. It needs someone who welcomes it.

That’s why Simmons is the right choice for county judge.

Why do I trust her with this office?

I think about that breakfast years ago, when Alisa Simmons sat next to my daughter and treated her like she mattered. I think about every interaction since, every time she’s asked how my kids are doing, every time she’s shown that she remembers the people behind the politics.

That may sound small. But it isn’t.

It tells you something about how a person moves through the world, about whether they see community as a concept or as something made up of real people with names, stories, and stakes.

I’ve watched Alisa Simmons for years, not election cycles. I’ve watched her take hits, be disrespected, be targeted, and still show up prepared and unflinching. I’ve watched her choose principle over comfort and truth over convenience. I’ve watched her do the work when it would have been easier to step back.

That’s why I trust her with this office.

Not because she says the right things, but because she’s proven consistently that she will stand up when it counts, even when she’s standing alone.

Tarrant County is my home. It’s where I’m raising my kids. It’s where my community lives. And it deserves leadership that reflects its people, protects its most vulnerable residents, and refuses to govern through fear.

That’s why I’m proud to endorse Alisa Simmons for Tarrant County Judge.

If you believe Tarrant County should belong to all of us, not just those who cling to power, then now is the time to act.

You can learn more about Alisa Simmons on her website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads.

If you’re in Tarrant County, please consider volunteering for her campaign.

Donate here if you can.

Talk to your neighbors. Share this race with people who don’t usually pay attention to county politics. And when the time comes, vote as the future of your community depends on it, because it does.

We don’t get many moments where the path forward is this clear.

This is one of them.

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