On Tue., June 3, Tarrant County commissioners will vote on a new redistricting map, one that could disenfranchise thousands of current and future Black and Latino voters locally and consolidate Republican power.
The predominantly Republican commissioners court believes that Republican leadership is responsible for the county’s growth and prosperity. They argue that Republican leadership is needed to maintain that success.
“Tarrant County’s prosperity doesn’t belong to one political party,” said Gwenn Burud, executive director of Texans Defending Democracy, a nonpartisan policy nonprofit. “It belongs to the everyday people who live and work here. … Wasting taxpayer dollars on political power grabs instead of public needs hurts us all. Real leadership brings people together and makes sure every community has a voice and a fair shot.”
Local activist/musician Ken Shimamoto says Republicans’ leadership claims are “disingenuous,” noting that “almost half of job growth in Tarrant County comes from new startups — some of which were funded with COVID relief money — and we still lag behind Democratic-led Dallas, Harris, and Travis counties in job creation and annual wages.”
Democrats and other progressives also counter that balanced districts better represent the county’s demographics than racially gerrymandered maps favoring Republican politicians.
And racially gerrymandered, the proposed maps are. In all five of them, Black and Latino communities have been clustered together to concentrate their voting power into one bloc as opposed to allowing them to spread out to influence multiple districts. Democrats and other progressives worry that muting Black and Latino voices will hurt everyone, not just those communities.
“Voting maps are usually updated every 10 years after the U.S. Census to reflect population changes,” Burud said, “but County Judge Tim O’Hare is rushing to redraw them midcycle without the benefit of current census data. This reckless break with long-standing practice sets a dangerous precedent.
“This isn’t just an attempt to weaken the voting power of Black and Latino communities,” she continued. “It affects all of Tarrant County. Silencing any group means losing voices that shape key decisions about infrastructure, health care, public safety, and more. That hurts everyone.”
Burud also feels a new map could lead to “expensive” lawsuits. “Instead of using those funds to fix roads or improve health care, the county may end up spending millions defending an unnecessary and unfair map.”
Shimamoto emphasizes the practical and historical implications of a new map, especially one that “lumps communities like Arlington and Mansfield in an expansive Precinct 2 with others like Benbrook and Crowley that have significantly different needs. … But I’m unable to answer this question without speaking to the question of justice. And conscience. Looking at the two barely contiguous fingers of red that constitute the greatly diminished Precinct 1 — stripped of resources and infrastructure — in all five of the proposed maps, a reasonable person might use the word ‘ghetto’ and recall that historic Como was once surrounded by a wall which its residents were warned to be inside before nightfall. Do we want Tarrant County to be known for the progress represented by Opal Lee and the Juneteenth Museum or by the culture-war extremism O’Hare brought to Tarrant County from Farmers Branch and Southlake, funded by out-of-state billionaires and supported by evangelical churches that want to call the tune and the changes for our municipal government?
“This is a moment that will define Tarrant County going forward,” Shimamoto continued, “and folks in all four precincts need to consider that thoroughly and let their commissioners know what they think.”
The majority Republican commissioners appear to be pushing for new maps now to entrench themselves before the 2026 election, when Trump lover O’Hare, Democratic Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons, and Republican Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez are on the ballot.
Not only are Democrats and other progressives opposed to the new maps but so are the mayors of 10 Tarrant County cities. Led by Arlington’s Jim Ross and including Fort Worth’s Mattie Parker, the mayors recently published a jointly signed letter in opposition to any new maps, especially racially gerrymandered ones like the majority Republican commissioners are proposing. The mayors want the commissioners’ vote delayed until more research is conducted and data collected. The commissioners appear to be moving forward regardless.
Echoing Shimamoto and other progressives, the mayors believe the proposed maps violate the U.S. Voting Rights Act by “packing minorities into a single district in an effort to limit their voting strength that might otherwise be influential in other districts.”
The mayors intend to crash the Tue., June 3, meeting of the commissioners court at 10 a.m. downtown at the Tarrant County Administration Building (100 E. Weatherford St., Ste. 502A). Over the past few weeks, the commissioners have heard from hundreds of citizens, most vehemently opposed to the proposed, racially gerrymandered maps.
Fort Worth City Council also recently passed a resolution in opposition to the new maps. Though Mayor Parker did not vote for council’s resolution, she still signed the mayors’ letter. Her rejection of the resolution appears to be technical in nature rather than ideological. She also bemoaned the partisan nature of the resolution, completely oblivious to the fact that one side of the political divide is trying to end democracy and usher in fascism.
The majority Republican commissioners claim redistricting is necessary now to reflect the county’s growth, when redistricting usually occurs after decennial census data comes out, meaning the next redistricting should not happen until after the 2030 U.S. Census.
While racial gerrymandering is unconstitutional, partisan gerrymandering is not, which is why the county called on Republican wonks to create the new maps. The county first engaged the Public Interest Legal Foundation from Virginia. The conservative nonprofit that specializes in almost nonexistent election fraud subcontracted with Adam Kincaid from the National Republican Redistricting Trust, the organization behind “the GOP’s 50-state redistricting effort.” Kincaid presented the five new maps to the county over a month later. All of them favor Republicans, based on voting-trend data.
“The reason we have the municipal government we do in Tarrant County is that only 7-8% of registered voters typically cast a vote in such elections,” Shimamoto said. “The recent election was no exception. Folks need to be aware of what’s being done with their tax dollars, show up when it’s time to vote, and use their voices with friends, neighbors, family, and co-workers to make sure that others know what’s going on. And not least of all, we need to show up for our neighbors to bear witness and show support when important issues are decided, as they will be in commissioners court on June 3.”
