After a several-hour delay due to equipment failure, the results of the local 2022 Democratic and Republican primaries are in. There weren’t any real surprises outside of the county judge race.
The biggest open seat once belonged to County Judge Glen Whitley, the longtime Republican head of the Tarrant County commissioners court who announced he would not seek reelection. To replace him, former Fort Worth mayor Betsy Price ran against former Tarrant County Republican chair Tim O’Hare, whose campaign peddled baseless lies that sought to portray Price as a leftist even as the former mayor refrained from similarly lying about him (“Tim O’Hare’s Campaign Gains Mo, One Lie at a Time,” Feb 24).
“I will not reduce myself to the tactics of a scared and desperate politician full of lies and deceptive messages,” Price recently told us.
One website that mimics O’Hare’s press releases takes aim at transgender youths as being “anti-family values.” I asked O’Hare what steps he would take, if elected, to protect trans students from bullying, and he responded that he believes the “Bible is the holy word of God,” which I took as a “nothing.”
With 71,557 votes, O’Hare took 56% of 125,646 votes casts.
In November, the Trump-backed candidate will run against Democrat Deborah Peoples, who bested her one opponent by taking in 83% of 70,904 votes cast.
Elsewhere in the county commissioners court, Manny Ramirez won just over 50% of Precinct 4 votes in a contentious race that pitted the current Fort Worth Police Association president against Constable Jody Johnson, son of Precinct 4’s longtime commissioner, J.D. Johnson. In November, Ramirez will face Precinct 4’s Democrat commissioner candidate, Cedric Kanyinda, who ran unopposed in the primary.
“This campaign was about the future of Tarrant County,” Ramirez said in a public statement. It was about “leading with integrity and providing the next generation of conservative leadership for our communities.”
Precinct 2 commissioner candidate Andy Nguyen, a Republican, ran unopposed and will go against Democrat Alissa Simmons, who took in 53% of 20,488 votes cast.
With 66% of 108,995 votes cast, District Clerk Tom Wilder beat out fellow Republican Larry Mike and will run against Democrat Syed Hassan in the midterm elections.
The Republican nomination for district attorney will be decided through the Sun, May 24, runoff election.
Based on our recent open records requests, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office lost 89 employees last year, largely due to resignations by staff and attorneys tasked with prosecuting crimes in the county. This marks the largest exodus since DA Sharen Wilson took office in 2015. The DA’s website lists a total staff of a little more than 300, meaning that nearly one-third of DA employees opted to leave a department that remains plagued by accusations of political prosecutions and what is said to be a hostile and micromanaged workplace headed by Wilson, who announced several months ago that she would not seek reelection. The three-way Republican primary race pitted former judges Phil Sorrells and Molly Westfall against State Rep. Matt Krause. Krause and Sorrells, who took in 40% and 31% of 118,662 votes cast respectively, will compete in May’s runoff.
Tiffany Burks, a longtime local prosecutor, won the Democrat nom for DA with 61% of 69,885 votes cast in her race against attorney Albert Roberts.
Manny ran a very positive campaign, never once attacked an opponent. We need more politicians like him, I really like that guy.
The “contributor” of this article, Ed Brown is a typical liberal. If you disagree with his point of view, you are labeled. Per the “media” we are not allowed to believe what we choose to and if you’re a Christian, you really will fall under their attack. Those who profess to be tolerant, full of love and acceptance of everyone, are in reality the ones who want to take away your freedom to choose. Especially if you reference your Bible or the Living Word. Sick of the hypocrisy.
LT, I am not a “contributor.” I am the staff writer for this news magazine. People who use religion for bigoted reasons are pseudo-Christians.
I like Betsy Price but instead of calling her Tarrant County Republican Chair opponent “a liar” she should have REFUTED his talking points. Southlake and much of Tarrant County is just tired of being called “intolerant” due to having a different opinion on social issues.