ken paxton called her "sick and twisted." alyssa edwards wrote him back, and signed off with "texas is big enough for all of us."

Peppermint, left, and Alyssa Edwards at DragCon in 2019. Photo: dvsross, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

via Alyssa Edwards's open letter on X, with reporting from TheWrap and the Advocate.

Ken Paxton had a week. He spent a surprising amount of it on a drag queen who is not running for anything.

We covered the second attack on Wednesday: a video on his X account under a siren-emoji "VIEWER WARNING," introducing followers to "James Talarico's favorite sick and twisted drag queen," built, the Advocate reported, from clips of her YouTube series, documentaries and reality TV, plus footage of her mentoring young dancers at Beyond Belief Dance Company. The offense, again, was that Talarico, his Democratic opponent for the US Senate, had once named her as his favorite drag queen.

On Wednesday evening she answered him. Not with a clapback video. With a two-page letter, posted to X, which by Thursday had more than 36,000 likes. His post had about 2,800.

what alyssa edwards wrote to paxton

"Hello there," it begins, which is already devastating. "I'm not sure I fully understand your motive or intention in attempting to disparage my name, my character, or my reputation. But I do know this: the way we choose to speak about others often says far more about our own character than it ever will about theirs."

Then she took his "Meet Alyssa Edwards" framing and simply accepted it. "And since you wanted your followers to meet me, allow me to properly introduce myself." She is Justin Johnson, born and raised in Mesquite. "I am one of seven children. I am an educator of 30 years, a choreographer, an entrepreneur, a mentor," and, she added, "yes, I also happen to be a drag performer." Her inspirations: "Miss Doubtfire and Patrick Swayze in 'To Wong Foo.'" Beyond Belief, she wrote, started "as a community recreation program at a YMCA." She grew up in the Baptist church.

There is exactly one piece of shade in the entire letter, and it is placed like a knife in a bouquet: "And if you happened to catch my Netflix docuseries along the way, I sincerely hope you enjoyed it."

She closed, in bold, "Texas is big enough for all of us," and signed it "With Texas pride," in her own hand, as Justin Johnson.

An open letter to @KenPaxtonTX

Alyssa Edwards (@AlyssaEdwards_1) September 23, 2026

the part paxton cannot edit

There is a version of this where she goes feral, and gay Twitter would have loved it. She did the harder thing, and wrote to the state's top law enforcement officer in the tone you use with a parent at pickup who has said something unfortunate in front of the children. He brought a siren emoji. She brought a signature.