Tarrant County judge on redistricting: 'The mission is to get three Republican commissioners'

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas - A plan to redistrict Tarrant County has recently come under fire after critics say it may be biased against non-White voters. 

County Judge Tim O’Hare isn’t trying to hide his motive for redistricting: To further increase conservative leadership in Tarrant County by decreasing the number of Democrats in the commissioners court.

Interview with Judge O'Hare

O’Hare, the Republican county judge, presides over a panel that currently has two Republican and two Democrat commissioners.

In his first one-on-one interview with FOX 4 since taking office, O'Hare welcomed us into his Southlake county courthouse office.

What they're saying:

"On Tuesday I hope we pass a map that guarantees, or comes as close as you can to guarantee, three Republican commissioners," O’Hare said. "That was my plan and what I campaigned on openly and publicly, dating as far back as May 2021."

He responded to critics who are opposed to his effort to redraw Tarrant's district lines, with allegations that his plan lacks transparency and sufficient public input, along with claims that it is racially discriminating and violates the federal voting rights act.

"It’s purely partisan. I’m not going to try to hide from that or act like it isn’t. That’s exactly what it is," O’Hare said. "We’ve had four different meetings in each precinct, we put maps online for anyone to look at and see and go over them. We’ve given people the opportunity to submit their own maps and weigh in with comments through the website, through emails, through the public forum, through commissioners court meetings… So, I don’t know how anyone with a straight face can say this is not transparent."

When asked if he believes the redistricting plan constitutes racial gerrymandering, O’Hare made his end goal clear. 

"At the end of the day, I’m doing it to put another Republican on the commissioners court, period, the end," the judge said.

"I don’t look at it in terms of race, I look at it in terms of policy. I look at it in terms of results," O’Hare went on. "The mission is to get three Republican commissioners on the commissioners court."

O'Hare compared his redistricting effort to a reversal of what's happened over the years in several now majority-liberal counties.

"I didn’t see these people come out and complain about what Dallas, Harris, Bexar or Travis County was doing, but they’re complaining about what we’re doing because they don’t want to lose seats, but we know if they were in charge because they did it in those counties, that’s their blueprint, we know if they were in charge here they do the same thing," the judge said.

There is also speculation that O'Hare's focus is aimed specifically at unseating District 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons. The two have often sparred during meetings on a variety of topics. That said, the judge denies wanting to unseat the commissioner.

"I campaigned on this issue dating as far back as 2021," O’Hare said. " At the time I did that, I had never heard her name, didn’t know who she was, had picked her out of a lineup of one, so the answer to that is just simply ‘no.’"

Another concern from critics is whether the 2020 census data used to create the maps is too old.

But the mayors who support the plan point out that Tarrant redistricting has been delayed even longer – nearly 15 years.

O’Hare says there are now seven maps up for consideration before Tuesday's vote.

"I believe Tarrant County would be better served if we have strong Republican leadership," said O’Hare. "Tarrant County voters have elected Republicans to every single countywide office dating back 30 years, but we have two to two when it comes to Republicans and Democrats on commissioners court. I think it should more accurately reflect our voting population, so I want to see it go three to one."

Tarrant County Redistricting

The backstory:

SMU mathematics professor and researcher Dr. Andrea Barreiro has dissected and analyzed the newly proposed maps for Tarrant County districts, the work of a county-hired consulting firm and the public legal interest foundation.

In an interview on Thursday, she said the goal of the redistricting appears to be to diminish the voting power of non-White county residents.

Cities including Fort Worth, Arlington, Mansfield and Grand Prairie have signed a letter expressing their opposition to the proposed map.

The group called the effort ill-timed because it’s the middle of the decade and, in their opinion, the census data from 2020 is outdated.

In early April, the commission voted three to two, with commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles opposing, to approve a contract with the Public Interest Legal Foundation to provide consultation with re-drawing district lines.

What's next:

Opponents of the plan have vowed to wage a legal battle if it's adopted. O'Hare said he believed that would go in his favor.

Tarrant CountyTexas Politics