The Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) filed a petition in state court Thursday seeking authorization to begin taking depositions as part of its effort to determine who has been impersonating the organization in text messages and mailers sent to Texas voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.
“It is our belief, based on the content and timing of the messages and mailer, that it is a single, coordinated campaign and it is organized by a single entity or a single payer,” TENT’s attorney Mimi Marziani said during a Thursday press briefing, according to The Advocate.
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Earlier this week, outraged conservatives began posting on social media about a “Texas Trans & LGBTQ+ Student Resource Guide” they received in the mail from “Texas Transgender Student Union,” an organization with no online presence or valid physical address, and which multiple outlets have confirmed was formed as an LLC in Wyoming on September 2. The pamphlets, which include TENT’s web address and a QR code linking to its website, began arriving in mailboxes just a week after Texas voters reported receiving unsolicited texts that also linked to TENT’s website. Their arrival also coincided with the start of early voting in the state.
In a statement posted on its website, which has effectively been shut down, TENT said the messages and mailers “were not authored, authorized, approved, or distributed by TENT and are not affiliated with our organization.”
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Marziani said Thursday that information in the mailers, which were addressed to “students” of the households that received them, misrepresents TENT’s work, according to the Advocate. She said the campaign appears to have targeted Republicans, echoing online speculation that the mailers and text messages may be part of an operation aimed at sparking outrage and turning out Republican voters.
“Obviously, these were sent to correspond with the early voting period in Texas,” Marziani said.
While it remains unclear precisely who is behind the Wyoming LLC, reporting by The Sheridan Press dating back to 2021 has linked Northwest Registered Agent LLC, the commercial registered agent service provider listed in Texas Transgender Student Union’s filings, to shell companies and scams. On Thursday, KXAN reported that the company said it has begun to “formally resign as the registered agent” for the Texas Transgender Student Union, while declining to name its client.
“This is about very dirty, unethical tricks in an election,” Marziani said Thursday. “It is about anonymous dark money.”
Marziani said TENT has also sent a cease-and-desist letter to SnailWorks, a Maryland-based mail tracking company that the Texas Tribune linked to the mailers. TENT previously sent cease-and-desist notices to two digital messaging companies, demanding they stop a client from impersonating the group.
Marziani highlighted the “extraordinary damage to TENT as an organization” the campaign has caused. Its online resources have been taken offline, and it has suspended events, including a voter engagement campaign, the Advocate reports. TENT told the Tribune this week that backlash to the texts and mailers has resulted in threats of violence, and Marziani confirmed that the organization’s staff continue to face online harassment and threats.
“We do believe our client has a number of claims, potentially against three actors under state and federal law,” Marziani said. “We would like to figure out the identity of who’s responsible during this election period.”
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