Southlake attorney Tim O’Hare captured an early lead Tuesday night over former Fort Worth mayor Betsy Price in the Republican primary race for Tarrant County judge.
Early voting results showed O’Hare with nearly 58% of the votes to Price’s 35%, but the final results weren’t expected for hours, well into early Wednesday morning, because of an equipment malfunction, Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said at an election night party for Price.
She and O’Hare, along with three other Republicans, are vying to succeed Whitley, who is retiring after having led the county since 2007. To avoid a runoff election, one of the candidates must win more than 50% of the votes.
The winner will likely face Deborah Peoples, a 69-year-old retired AT&T executive, in November. Peoples grabbed a decisive lead against former Arlington City Council member Marvin Sutton in early voting. She led with nearly 83% of the early votes.
Testing the county’s reputation for courteous politics, the Republican race has pitted Price’s widespread name recognition against O’Hare’s ultraconservative politics.
The candidates exchanged insults over lightning-rod issues, such as critical race theory and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Throughout the race, O’Hare, 52, worked to portray Price as a liberal, comparing her in ads to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who oversaw the nation’s COVID-19 response.
Meanwhile, Price, 72, said O’Hare resorted to attacks because he lacked the knowledge and experience to lead Tarrant County, where he moved in 2013.
Tarrant is the most populous Republican-leaning county in Texas, but it has shifted to the left in recent years. In 2016, the county voted for former President Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Just two years later, Tarrant voters chose Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who is running for governor in 2022, over Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
And in 2020, the county flipped blue and voted for President Joe Biden.
Price, who identifies as a lifelong Republican, developed a reputation as a consensus builder as mayor of Fort Worth and has said she would manage the county judge position similarly. As one of the last Republican mayors of a large city, Price said she represented all residents regardless of their political party.
O’Hare has so far taken a different approach.
“Tarrant County is the last remaining urban, conservative county in Texas,” the attorney said in a questionnaire for The Dallas Morning News’ voter guide. “Now is not the time for business as usual politics.”
The former mayor of Farmers Branch drew national attention in 2006 for championing city ordinances targeting immigrants who were in the country illegally.
A federal court later found the ordinance, which banned landlords from renting to immigrants, unconstitutional. The seven-year effort cost Farmers Branch about $6.6 million in legal fees.
O’Hare stepped down as mayor in 2011 and moved to Southlake in 2013. The lawyer founded Southlake Families, a conservative political action committee that opposes the teaching of critical race theory and successfully fought Carroll ISD’s diversity and inclusion plan.
O’Hare won endorsements from former President Donald Trump and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Price was endorsed by outgoing judge Whitley, former Gov. Rick Perry and Land Commissioner George P. Bush, who is running in the GOP primary for attorney general.
