Republican candidates in two high-profile Tarrant County races — county judge and district attorney — won election Tuesday night.
Both parties closely watched results in Tarrant County — which remains Texas’ last urban county dominated by Republicans — as a bellwether for state politics.
In the county judge race, far-right candidate Tim O’Hare beat Democrat Deborah Peoples, according to unofficial voting results.
O’Hare, a Southlake attorney, has said his top priority as county judge will be to keep Tarrant County red. Meanwhile, Peoples, a retired AT&T executive, had sought to recruit business friendly and moderate Republicans to her side.
O’Hare’s victory in the Republican primary earlier this year over longtime Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price caused a fissure in the party.
Both Price and outgoing County Judge Glen Whitley, a longtime Republican who did not run for reelection, declined to endorse O’Hare, calling his primary campaign misleading and disingenuous.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, who has said she could not run in a Republican primary and look at herself in the mirror, also did not endorse him.
O’Hare did pick up endorsements from former President Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz
