Tarrant County judge race heads to voters Tuesday

Tarrant County voters will decide Tuesday, Nov. 3, whether to give Republican Judge Tim O'Hare of Southlake a second term or replace him with Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons of Arlington.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters in line by 7 p.m. can still cast a ballot.

The race is the marquee contest on a Tarrant County ballot that includes more than 70 partisan races at the county, state and federal levels, the Fort Worth Report reported. The outcome could signal whether the largest Republican-controlled county in the United States is shifting blue.

The candidates

O'Hare, a Republican, won the county judge seat in 2022 by 6 percentage points over Democrat Deborah Peoples. Before leading the county, he chaired the Tarrant County Republican Party and served as mayor of Farmers Branch in Dallas County, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Simmons, 63, is a Democrat who has served as Precinct 2 commissioner for about three and a half years. She cited 21 years in public safety before joining the commissioners court, the Star-Telegram reported in an Oct. 19 article. After a Republican-led redistricting effort reshaped her precinct, Simmons shifted her campaign to the countywide judge seat.

Both dominated their March 3 primaries. O'Hare took about 88% of the Republican vote. Simmons captured about 62% of the Democratic vote, according to the Fort Worth Report.

What's at stake

O'Hare is running on the slogan "promises made, promises kept." During his term, the county property tax rate fell from 22.4 cents to 18.6 cents per $100 valuation, the Star-Telegram reported. Commissioners also added a 20% homestead exemption, the state maximum, and approved pay raises for law enforcement officers.

O'Hare said he wants to keep lowering property taxes and keep Tarrant the safest large county in Texas, according to the Star-Telegram. He alleged a Simmons win would bring higher taxes and more crime.

Simmons is campaigning on public safety, healthcare, help for low-income families and open government. She argued the tax cuts O'Hare promoted also led to cuts in county programs, CBS News Texas reported. She said she plans to investigate jail deaths if elected; the Star-Telegram reported that Simmons and Sheriff Bill Waybourn disagreed on how many in-custody deaths occurred at the Tarrant County Jail this year.

The two have clashed over the county's reduction in polling locations. O'Hare said the changes equalized locations across precincts. Simmons called the cuts politically motivated, according to CBS News Texas.

Turnout already surging

Early voting ran Oct. 19 through Oct. 30. On the first day alone, 50,409 ballots were cast in Tarrant County, up from 29,197 on the first day of early voting in the 2022 midterm, NBC DFW reported.

University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus told the Star-Telegram that Tarrant County is among the most critical counties in the 2026 election cycle. The result will hinge on turnout, Rottinghaus said.