Redrawn Precinct 2 commissioners seat, now reaching south Fort Worth, pits Tinderholt against Williams

Voters will fill the county commissioners seat at the center of last year's mid-decade redistricting fight on Nov. 3, and for the first time its boundaries take in the south end of Fort Worth.

Republican Tony Tinderholt, a former six-term state representative from the Arlington area, and Democrat Jared Williams, a former Fort Worth City Council member, are running for the open Precinct 2 seat, the Fort Worth Report reported Monday. Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who holds the seat now, is running for county judge.

A new shape

Precinct 2 has been held by Democrats since 2019 and was centered on Arlington and Mansfield.

The map the court adopted in June 2025 on a 3-2 vote reshaped it to stretch across southeast and southwest Tarrant County, taking in parts of Arlington and Mansfield along with Rendon, pieces of Crowley and Benbrook, Edgecliff Village and the far south end of Fort Worth, according to the Report.

County Judge Tim O'Hare and Commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez, all Republicans, said openly that they wanted to firm up the court's Republican majority. The two Democratic commissioners voted no. Critics called the map racial gerrymandering; a federal appeals judge later found the map hit Black and Latino residents disproportionately while concluding that partisanship, not race, was the motive.

Two lawsuits over the map were dismissed or withdrawn by December 2025, the Report said.

The candidates

Tinderholt, 56, an Air Force and Army veteran, backed the redistricting and announced his run moments after the map passed. His campaign website names lower property taxes, full funding for police, rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, economic growth and election integrity among his priorities. He did not attend the Report's Oct. 7 candidate forum or answer its questions or interview requests.

Williams, 36, represented southwest Fort Worth and the Como neighborhood on the City Council for four years and is vice president of external affairs at the Tarrant Area Food Bank. He opposed the redistricting. His stated aim is to "build a county government that cares for its people," and at the forum he called for pushing the homestead exemption as high as the law allows.

Tinderholt reported about $65,000 on hand in late September; Williams reported about $6,500 in cash and close to $18,000 in loans still owed, based on campaign finance filings the Report reviewed.

The job carries a four-year term, and the five-member court decides the county's budget and tax rates. The winner takes office in January.

Sources

fortworthreport.org