Tarrant County redistricting backfires as Democrats dominate ballot top to bottom

By Zach Leggio, The Texas Tribune
November 3, 2026

Democrats thumped Republicans in Tarrant County, ending its status as the largest GOP-controlled county in Texas, in Tuesday’s election. Every Democrat seeking statewide office led in Tarrant County, and Democrats won every contested countywide race from county judge to district attorney.

The county, which once voted more conservatively than the rest of the state, recently showed cracks as Tarrant voters occasionally supported Democrats at the top of the ticket — including Joe Biden for president in 2020 — but those swings had not translated into success for the party’s state or county candidates.

Tuesday evening, Democrat Alisa Simmons declared victory over incumbent Republican Tim O’Hare in the race for Tarrant County’s top executive job — a closely watched race in a key political battleground.

Simmons — who jumped to a 15-point lead when early votes were released — told supporters at an event in Arlington that O’Hare called to congratulate on her victory.

She will be the first  Democrat to serve as county judge since Mike Moncrief left office in 1986.

Since taking office in 2023, O’Hare has used the position of county judge to lead numerous culture war battles, including highly public efforts to stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in schools and nonprofits. O’Hare also led the charge to redraw commissioners court districts in 2025 in hopes of creating a 4-1 Republican advantage by boosting GOP voters in Simmons’ district. 

The redistricting backfired, with Democrats now slated for a 4-1 advantage with Simmons as judge.

In the race for Simmons’ district, Democrat Jared Williams defeated Republican Tony Tinderholt, who resigned from the Texas House, where he was among the most conservative representatives, to run for Precinct 2 on the commissioners court. Trump won the redrawn district by 6.1 points in 2024.

Democrat Nydia Cardenas defeated incumbent Republican Manny Ramirez to represent Precinct 4. Ramirez has represented the northwest corner of the county since 2023, when he won the seat by more than 18 points.

Matt Krause, a staunch conservative and former member of the Texas House, will be the only remaining Republican on the court. He has represented the northeastern corner of the county since 2025 and was not up for reelection this year. 

“I think the people who live here have really fought for their access to the ballot box and shown themselves what’s possible,” said Allison Campolo, chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party. “We got the 4-1 court … just not in the direction [Republicans] wanted.”

Prior to serving as the chief executive of Tarrant County, O’Hare was the mayor of Farmers Branch and later served as chair of the Tarrant County GOP. He defeated Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price in the 2022 Republican primary, whom he painted as a RINO or “Republican in Name Only.”

Simmons and O’Hare frequently clashed at commissioners court meetings. O’Hare told Simmons to “sit there and be quiet” when she objected to the hiring of a government contractor at an April 2024 meeting.

Simmons led the Arlington NAACP before joining the court in 2022.

In another key race, Democrat Tiffany Burks defeated incumbent Republican Phil Sorrells in the Tarrant County district attorney race. Sorrells previously served for 25 years as judge of Tarrant County Criminal Court No. 10.

In a widely watched race for the Texas Senate, Democrat Taylor Rehmet was holding a narrow lead over Republican Leigh Wambsganss with about 85% of precincts reporting as of midnight Wednesday.

Rehmet made national headlines in January when he defeated Wambsganss by 14.5 points in a special election runoff to fill a vacant seat for Senate District 9. Trump carried the district by 17.4 points in 2024. The winner of Tuesday’s election will serve a full four-year term.

Wambsganss had promised to reverse her defeat in Nov. 3’s rematch, saying a low-attendance runoff wasn’t an accurate measure of GOP strength in Tarrant County. 

Following the January runoff, both candidates focused on affordability issues and rarely mentioned their opponent. Wambsganss, who rose to prominence by helping fill four North Texas school boards with Christian conservatives, downplayed her endorsement from Trump and unveiled a new slogan: “Putting working families first.”

Rehmet, an Air Force veteran, mechanist and union leader, focused his campaign on healthcare costs, property taxes and cost of living issues.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.