Tarrant County will have a Democratic county judge for the first time since 1986, and Democrats will hold four of the five seats on the commissioners court that sets the county's budget and tax rate, after Tuesday's election.
Commissioner Alisa Simmons defeated Republican County Judge Tim O'Hare. Simmons told supporters that O'Hare called her during the evening to concede and congratulate her, FOX 4 and the Fort Worth Report reported. In the county's unofficial results, last updated at 2:54 a.m. Wednesday, Simmons had 402,291 votes, or 56.40%, to O'Hare's 311,040, or 43.60%.
Simmons, a former Arlington NAACP leader who joined the court in 2023, takes office Jan. 1 for a four-year term. She told the Fort Worth Report she plans to hold more court meetings each month, give residents more time to speak at them and work on the county's budget. She will be the first Black person to serve as county judge, the Report said.
O'Hare, a former Farmers Branch mayor, was seeking a second term. He campaigned on public safety and on four straight years of lower county tax rates paired with raises for the sheriff's office, the Report said. He did not respond to the Report's request for comment on election night.
The rest of the court
Democrats also won both commissioner seats on the ballot, according to the Texas Tribune and county results:
- Precinct 2, Simmons' former seat: Democrat Jared Williams had 100,575 votes, or 55.40%, to 80,955, or 44.60%, for Republican Tony Tinderholt, who left the Texas House to run.
- Precinct 4, in the county's northwest: Democrat Nydia Cardenas had 89,039 votes, or 51.80%, to 82,839, or 48.20%, for Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez.
Republican Matt Krause, who was not on the ballot, will be the court's lone Republican, the Tribune reported.
The result follows the court's 2025 redrawing of precinct lines, led by O'Hare's Republican majority. O'Hare said at the time the new map reflected population growth and Republican voting strength; critics, including Simmons, said it diluted the votes of people of color, according to the Fort Worth Report.
