A Republican political organization has been linked to controversial transgender-related text messages sent across Texas, while the state’s highest court has temporarily blocked efforts to identify those responsible for a separate campaign of misleading mailers targeting families ahead of the November midterm elections.
According to an October 29 report by the Texas Tribune, testimony from messaging company Infobip identified the Republican Women’s Caucus Fund and an individual named John Braun as the parties behind text messages directing recipients to transgender youth resources.
The fund was founded and is chaired by Republican U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida. However, the organization has denied involvement, and investigators have not established that it was responsible for the separate printed mailers.
The messages referenced materials from the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), including information about school bathrooms and gender-affirming healthcare. TENT maintains that it had no involvement in distributing the messages.
Days later, pamphlets began arriving at Texas households addressed to students. The materials purported to offer LGBTQ-related guidance, including suggestions that minors seek emancipation from unsupportive parents.
The pamphlets referenced TENT and included a photograph of its members without permission. The organization reported receiving threats and harassment following their distribution.
The mailers originated from an entity calling itself the Texas Transgender Student Union, registered in Wyoming in September.
On October 30, the Texas Supreme Court temporarily halted a deposition that could have identified individuals behind the organization. The intervention came approximately 15 minutes before questioning was scheduled to begin.
The court provided no explanation for its decision and ordered additional legal responses by November 2.
Jon Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, told News 4 San Antonio that the campaign appeared designed to increase Republican voter turnout by provoking opposition to transgender rights.
West Texas District Attorney Sarah Stogner has also opened a potential forgery investigation into the mailers.
Meanwhile, TENT attorney Mimi Marziani said the organization believes the text messages and mailers may share a common source, although evidence directly connecting the two campaigns has not emerged.
The Wyoming organization’s attorney, Chris Hilton, previously worked for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and represented him during his 2023 impeachment proceedings.
With Election Day approaching on November 3, the investigation has raised questions about whether transgender advocacy organizations were deliberately impersonated to generate political outrage.
For now, the Republican group’s reported connection to the text campaign is documented in deposition testimony, while the identities and political affiliations of those responsible for the printed mailers remain unresolved.
