Alisa Simmons

Political career

2010 Arlington School Board election In 2010, she ran for the Arlington School Board, saying that she decided to run after years of volunteering in the district. She placed in second in a three-way race, losing 41.7% to 32.2%.

2020 State House campaign Simmons was the Democratic nominee for the competitive 94th district in the 2020 Texas House of Representatives elections. She had long considered a campaign in the seat but had considered it too conservative, until in 2018, the Democratic challenger received 44% of the vote. She decided to run, but noted in an interview that "it was not going to be easy." During the campaign, she received the endorsement of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram which argued that she brought a "commendable record of service to the district" and that she would be a step up from the incumbent, Rep. Tony Tinderholt.

Tarrant County Commissioners Court

2022 election Precinct 2 became an open seat in 2022 after Democratic incumbent Devan Allen chose not to seek re-election.

Tenure Simmons has frequently been in conflict with County Judge Tim O'Hare and the court's Republican majority. Following the April 2024 death of Anthony Johnson Jr., which the county medical examiner ruled a homicide by asphyxiation, Simmons questioned why the jail did not maintain a specialized response team similar to those used in some other large Texas counties.

In 2025, Simmons opposed the court's majority's reduction of the number of voting locations used for that November's election. After the court voted to eliminate more than 100 Election Day locations, Simmons proposed restoring 37 of them and adding seven early-voting sites. Her proposals were rejected by the court in two separate 3-2 party-line votes.

She opposed a mid-decade redistricting in 2025 of the county's four commissioner precincts. On June 3, 2025, the court voted 3-2 along party lines to adopt a map that was viewed as more favorable to Republicans, with Simmons and fellow Democrat Roderick Miles Jr. opposed. Simmons, who released several alternative maps, called the effort "a calculated attempt to strip representation" and described it as racial gerrymandering targeting Black and Latino voters. On the county's $250,000 contract with the Public Interest Legal Foundation to run the redistricting process, she argued that hiring the firm was "essentially hiring the arsonist to put out the fire." Two lawsuits challenging the new map as racial gerrymandering were dismissed in early December 2025, allowing it to take effect.

2026 Tarrant County Judge campaign Simmons announced her candidacy for Tarrant County Judge on December 6, 2025, in Arlington, citing what she called inefficiencies in county government. She won the March 3, 2026 Democratic primary with 61.35%, defeating Marc Veasey, who had remained on the ballot despite dropping out of the race, and Millennium Anton C. Woods Jr. She faces O'Hare, who won the Republican primary, in the November 3, 2026 general election.

Personal life According to a 1994 profile, Alisa married Don Simmons in 1987 and they have two sons, Donnie and Asa. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.