Obviously I'm very, very happy with what happened statewide in Texas--it's amazing. BUT I live in Collin County, and I wanted to do a thread to point out how much gerrymandering remains a problem.
Mary Sisson
@msisson.bsky.social
Writer and mostly just a reply person here on Bsky. Hopeful this platform doesn't go kablooey. marysisson.com Evelyn Normielib by Ryan Geddie.
THIS. Gerrymandering blocked Dems from gaining unified control over state government in GA, NC, TX, and maybe OH. Nearly 1 in 5 Americans live in those states. Many House races remain uncalled, but my very prelimiary estimate is gerrymandering cost Dems 2 dozen seats—only NC’s map fully fell apart
ElieNYC@elienyc.bsky.social · 3d agoI said this on @nativelandpod.bsky.social but I'll repeat it here: A dangerous narrative is going to be "the GOP gerrymandering didn't work." NO. It worked GREAT. We just OVERCAME it. But we'd have even MORE seats, and different candidates could have won those seats, without the gerryamndering.
Oy. I was wondering about this ad because it seemed very Greg Abbott to have someone thanking him for doing a great job =while holding a picture of a child who died.= Done without the family’s permission & they lied about taking it down—I saw it last night! www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/tex...
Houston mother responds to Abbott's ad on Arlene Alvarez's death
Wendy Álvarez wants the Greg Abbott campaign to remove an ad tied to the 2022 killing of her daughter, Arlene Álvarez, after backlash from the community.
houstonchronicle.com
how long before he starts saying this about water
Unusual Whales@unusualwhales.bsky.social · last wk.BREAKING: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says having RAM in personal computers is an inefficient use of the world’s limited DRAM supply, arguing it would be better allocated to data centers, per Tom’s Hardware
These four states (GA, NC, OH, and TX) where Republican gerrymandering may be likeliest to thwart Democrats from gaining unified control of state government collectively have 19% of the U.S. population
Voter suppression in Texas is working exactly as it was designed to work. Republicans closed 92 voting locations in the state's largest swing county and now voters are waiting in line two hours to vote.
Happy Drive Your Spouse Away From the Process Server Day to all who observe it. www.texastribune.org/2022/09/26/t...
Ken Paxton tried to avoid being served with subpoena, court record says
In an affidavit, a process server said that the state’s top attorney tried to evade him as he attempted to deliver a subpoena from an abortion fund’s lawsuit against the state.
texastribune.org
Report from the front lines: The halal brisket at Levant BBQ in Frisco is excellent—just falls apart when you touch it. 👍 Man, am I full!
I want to make an observation on the Bo French situation: French, a racist pig, is Texan. These kids in this photo, who he hates? Are ALSO Texan. When you decide that French equals ALL Texans, =you are supporting him.= You are buying into his world view, and you are erasing these kids for him.
Since there seems to be a bit of a Murc's Law situation happening nowadays, I thought I'd take a little time to refresh everyone on Ken Paxton's positions on trans rights. Here's banger: www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-r...
Texas Wants to Take Trans Kids From Their Supportive Parents. We’re Suing. | ACLU
Families in Texas are worried that supporting their transgender kids will lead to a report of child abuse. We are already seeing families being investigated. Gender-affirming care is medically necessa...
aclu.org
Tarrant County officials have now arrested and charged two different people for speaking out during last week’s meeting over a plan to cut nearly half of election day polling sites—a local activist and a former state rep fortworthreport.org/2026/08/12/f...
Fort Worth activist arrested a week after his removal from Tarrant County Commissioners Court
EJ Carrion was charged with disrupting a public meeting for directing an expletive at commissioners.
fortworthreport.org
Michael Barajas@michaelbarajas.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe GOP county exec in Tarrant Co (Fort Worth) often kicks people out for speaking up to protest county govt actions at public meetings. Today he shut it down amid outrage over the plan to cut nearly half of election day polling places this year (as he himself faces a heated race for county exec)
🧵🧵 After 16 months on the sidelines, far-right billionaire Tim Dunn is getting involved in the Texas race for US Senate. Dunn's entry comes as Ken Paxton, whose political life he once bankrolled, trails in some polls and is getting killed in spending by James Talarico.
Ken Paxton’s Far-Right Billionaire Backer Has Returned
Tim Dunn, once among Paxton’s biggest donors, seemed to pull back from financially supporting the candidate in 2025. A recent campaign-finance report shows he’s finally getting involved in the Senate ...
texasmonthly.com
Lon Burnam, a former state lawmaker representing Tarrant County from 1997 to 2015, was carried out of the room by four sheriff deputies, who held him by his hands and feet: fortworthreport.org/2026/08/04/t...
Tarrant County judge removes attendees during public meeting about voting site reductions
Former state lawmaker Lon Burnam was carried out of the courtroom by sheriff deputies after O’Hare called speakers disruptive.
fortworthreport.org
I was having a discussion here last night about a notion I see often but that I think is wrong: Gerrymandering has no impact on state-wide elections. I feel like people don't appreciate the wider effects of partisan gerrymandering and how it feeds into the authoritarian "politics of the inevitable."
I appreciate @natecohn.bsky.social & Eve Washington's NYT piece pointing out that random simulations of nonpartisan districting tend to produce many minority opportunity districts, perhaps as many as we have now. But although the subhead comes close, the authors do not ever quite say the key point—
I like this because it's taking a more-holistic view of what the Supreme Court is actually trying to accomplish. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/power-demo...
Power, democracy, and clarity
What does the end of the Voting Rights Act mean?
donmoynihan.substack.com
Just wanted to point out that Angela Paxton's name also appears as a donor here--TTP is a hate group, if you were unaware. Looks like Angela got Tim Dunn in the divorce!
Bud Kennedy@budkennedy.bsky.social · 7mo agoCounty Judge Tim O’Hare, other local officials were donors to the True Texas Project event.
I will say, seeing astroturf campaigns on BSKY suggests that the platform is viewed by the groups that run these operations as a legitimate source of political discussion that influences and moves voters.
I know that there's a lot of controversy over whether or not it's worthwhile to attempt to flip Texas, which I assume will pop up again because of Rehmet's win in SD9. If you're from out of state, I wanted to point out that Rehmet's win (and any Dem win) blunts the power of billionaire Tim Dunn.
A Pair of Billionaire Preachers Built the Most Powerful Political Machine in Texas. That’s Just the Start.
Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks are poised to take their Christian nationalist agenda nationwide.
propublica.org
Super happy with the results from SD9! Lots of people are noting that the GOP candidate was...sub-optimal, and that's exactly what's been happening in Collin County as well. If you let people like Tim Dunn run the show, you're never going to have good candidates, or good policy. Keep fighting!
I'm finally going to post, because I've seen some really naive takes on voter suppression in Texas and how it can't possibly have any kind of meaningful impact on voting. (You might wonder why Republicans bother!) Anyway, this is what a successful Dem get-out-the-vote effort looks like in Texas:
Former Democratic state House candidate among nine indicted for alleged vote harvesting in South Texas
The charges are the latest escalation in a probe that resulted in Texas authorities indicting six other Frio County area officials in May.
texastribune.org
My grandfather's letters from World War II--he was a surgeon:
A Dislocated World: Letters from a World War II Surgeon
A Dislocated World: Letters from a World War II Surgeon - Kindle edition by Sisson, Mary, Kendall, Lee. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading A Dislocated World: Letters from a World War II Surgeon.
amazon.com
Cautiously putting another toe in here: I write books! My best known is the sci-fi series Trang:
Trang
Visit Amazon's Trang Page and shop for all Trang books. Check out pictures, author information, and reviews of Trang
amazon.com