Democrats thumped Republicans in Tarrant County, ending its status as the largest GOP-controlled county in Texas, in Tuesday’s election. Every Democrat seeking statewide office led in Tarrant County, and Democrats won every contested countywide race from county judge to district attorney.

The county, which once voted more conservatively than the rest of the state, recently showed cracks as Tarrant voters occasionally supported Democrats at the top of the ticket — including Joe Biden for president in 2020 — but those swings had not translated into success for the party’s state or county candidates.

In a widely watched race for the Texas Senate, Democratic state Sen. Taylor Rehmet declared victory while holding a narrow lead over Republican Leigh Wambsganss. 

“You sent a working man to the Texas Senate, and I intend to keep doing the work you sent me there to do. I carry your trust, your hopes, and your struggles with me every day,” Rehmet said in a statement.

Rehmet — an Air Force veteran, mechanist and union leader — made national headlines in January when he defeated Wambsganss by 14.5 points in a special election runoff to fill a vacant seat for Senate District 9. Trump carried the district by 17.4 points in 2024. The winner of Tuesday’s election will serve a full four-year term.

Tuesday evening, Democrat Alisa Simmons declared victory over incumbent Republican Tim O’Hare in the race for Tarrant County’s top executive job — a closely watched race in a key political battleground.

Simmons — who jumped to a 15-point lead when early votes were released — told supporters at an event in Arlington that O’Hare called to congratulate on her victory.

She will be the first  Democrat to serve as county judge since Mike Moncrief left office in 1986.

Since taking office in 2023, O’Hare has used the position of county judge to lead numerous culture war battles, including highly public efforts to stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in schools and nonprofits. O’Hare also led the charge to redraw commissioners court districts in 2025 in hopes of creating a 4-1 Republican advantage by boosting GOP voters in Simmons’ district. 

The redistricting backfired, with Democrats now slated for a 4-1 advantage with Simmons as judge.

In the race for Simmons’ district, Democrat Jared Williams defeated Republican Tony Tinderholt, who resigned from the Texas House, where he was among the most conservative representatives, to run for Precinct 2 on the commissioners court. Trump won the redrawn district by 6.1 points in 2024.

Democrat Nydia Cardenas defeated incumbent Republican Manny Ramirez to represent Precinct 4. Ramirez has represented the northwest corner of the county since 2023, when he won the seat by more than 18 points.

Matt Krause, a staunch conservative and former member of the Texas House, will be the only remaining Republican on the court. He has represented the northeastern corner of the county since 2025 and was not up for reelection this year. 

“I think the people who live here have really fought for their access to the ballot box and shown themselves what’s possible,” said Allison Campolo, chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party. “We got the 4-1 court … just not in the direction [Republicans] wanted.”

Prior to serving as the chief executive of Tarrant County, O’Hare was the mayor of Farmers Branch and later served as chair of the Tarrant County GOP. He defeated Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price in the 2022 Republican primary, whom he painted as a RINO or “Republican in Name Only.”

Simmons and O’Hare frequently clashed at commissioners court meetings. O’Hare told Simmons to “sit there and be quiet” when she objected to the hiring of a government contractor at an April 2024 meeting.

Simmons led the Arlington NAACP before joining the court in 2022.

In another key race, Democrat Tiffany Burks defeated incumbent Republican Phil Sorrells in the Tarrant County district attorney race. Sorrells previously served for 25 years as judge of Tarrant County Criminal Court No. 10.

In Texas House races for 11 districts that include parts of Tarrant County, Democrats flipped three Republican seats as vote counting continued Wednesday — a shocking upset after the Republicans raised more than $1 million each since July to defend their seats: 

• Katie O’Brien Duzan defeated Republican Cheryl Bean to replace Tinderholt in a district Trump won by 9.6 points in 2024, as called by The Associated Press early Wednesday. 
• Ebony Turner defeated Republican Ellen Fleischmann, the daughter of Sorrells, the district attorney, for a seat left open when Rep. David Cook opted to run for the state Senate, according to the AP. 
• Beth Llewellyn McLaughlin narrowly defeated Rep. John McQueeney of Fort Worth, who spent more money than any other House candidate in Tarrant County. McQueeney spent more than 30 times what his opponent spent since July in defense of the seat that he won by 16.2 points in 2024.

In District 93, Democrat Ericka Lomick defeated Alan Blaycock to complete the term of Nate Schatzline, who did not seek reelection and resigned in July. She leads in the race to serve a complete term beginning in January after the special election and general election races were placed on the same ballot.

Lomick, however, suspended her campaign in September after a political action committee supporting Blaycock reported Lomick was indicted and pleaded guilty to three federal felonies which he said made her ineligible, according to The Fort Worth Report. It’s unclear if she is eligible to hold office or if she will be seated.

“We’ll find out in the coming days and I think it’ll become more clear once the lawyers get into this,” said Campolo, who did not speak with Lomick Tuesday night.

Two Democratic incumbents from Fort Worth — Reps. Ramon Romero Jr. and Nicole Collier — ran unopposed. Democrat Junior Ezeonu, the 27-year-old former Grand Prairie City Council member who defeated Democratic state Rep. Chris Turner in the March primary, also ran unopposed. 

State Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, defeated J.P. Woodruff in a district Kamala Harris won by 15.2 points. Bhojani outraised Woodruff more than 5-to-1 in the closing months of the election and secured his third term in the House.

Republican incumbent state Reps. Charlie Geren and David Lowe prevailed in districts that Trump won by more than 21 points in 2024. Armin Mizani, the former Republican mayor of Keller, defeated Democrat Cate Brennan to replace state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, who did not seek reelection.