Fort Worth, 11.4.2026

A local muso-journo of my acquaintance hit me up yesterday for a comment on the election result and the election season in general. I typed a book, he used a sentence. So I'm dumping the rest of it here because I hate to let anything go to waste.

While the infrastructure is in place for some really dreadful things to come down, particularly since the Prairieland sentences, it has been noteworthy to see people becoming LESS afraid since last summer. I think the bridge brigades played a part in that, because they were visible, and No Kings last October played an even bigger one, because not only was it huge, it was GLOBAL. [State senator] Taylor Rehmet's election was as significant as Mamdani's because it was HERE, in the epicenter of Christian nationalism, home of Mercy Culture and Bo French. 

From doing away with DEI initiatives to allowing polluting industries where Black and brown folks live to redrawing precinct lines to create a Precinct 2 where [county judge elect] Alisa Simmons couldn't be re-elected (and doing everything short of rebuilding the Ridglea wall around Como) to colluding with ICE as they target our hardworking immigrant neighbors, our local government has shown flagrant disregard for the needs of the community. Not to forget lack of accountability regarding deaths in Tarrant County jail [over 80 at this writing since 2017] and a glacial judicial process in the killing of Atatiana Jefferson, and the prosecution of Crystal Mason for voting while on paper.

But the worm has really turned this year, as the economic costs of Trump's tariffs and war of choice with Iran hit home. And EVERYONE across the political spectrum, urban and rural, is up in arms about AI data centers and Flock cameras.

This year we have seen young Latinos, angered by ICE invading their neighborhoods, turning out to vote in record numbers. At the same time, we're seeing a movement toward political and economic autonomy in the Black community. And perhaps most notably, we're seeing legacy Republicans -- who crossed over at the top of the ballot but nowhere else in 2018 and 2020 -- turning against MAGA. Finally, it appears that white liberals have lost their reservations about electing Black women to positions of power.

When Tim O'Hare cleared the Commissioner's Court in September, we saw the spontaneous eruption of people who are tired of having their voices silenced in his court, in City Council, and by the unelected FWISD board as they dismantle programs and services that are essential to meet legal mandates and the needs of a majority Latino district. They are dumbing down our schools and running qualified, dedicated educators out of the profession. Only a new governor and a Democratic majority in the state Senate [both of which we now have] can stop the destruction of Texas public schools.

But I have been particularly encouraged the last few months to see people become engaged politically whom I never would have expected, and hearing voters I talk to when canvassing who are more aware of issues and motivated to vote than I have seen in the last eight years I have been doing this work. The job now becomes holding OUR electeds accountable, and continuing to building connection and community -- which we have proven, can beat billionaires' big bucks. When we vote, we win. So there.