Redistricting: Racial Discrimination in Tarrant

The Current Effort by MAGA County Judge Tim O’Hare to Redraw Tarrant County Commissioner Precinct Boundaries is an Act of Illegal Racial Discrimination

Overview

MAGA Republican Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare is carrying out a hostile and highly unusual mid-decade effort to redraw current county commissioner precinct (district) boundaries. It is clear from his actions and history that O’Hare intends to undermine the voting strength of minority citizens in Tarrant County by converting at least one of the two existing districts where minority voters elect their candidate of choice into an Anglo-controlled district where minority voters’ voice at the polls will be silenced. While the U.S. Voting Rights Act has been weakened in many ways, intentional racial discrimination remains illegal in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOU CAN ATTEND AND SPEAK OUT AGAINST ILLEGAL RACIAL GERRYMANDERING IN TARRANT COUNTY

Current commissioner court boundaries reflect racial and political balance in Tarrant County

Tarrant County is a majority minority county where the Black, Hispanic, Asian, and other minority populations are growing as the Anglo population is shrinking. From 2010 to 2020, the combined Black and Hispanic population grew to 55.9 percent of the total in Tarrant and increased by over 220,000 persons. The Anglo population fell to 42.9 percent of the total in Tarrant and decreased by over 32,000 persons. The increase in the minority population has coincided with Tarrant County becoming competitive in county-wide elections. Top-of-the-ballot candidates like Joe Biden in 2020 and Colin Allred in 2024 carried Tarrant County while other down-ballot county wide Democrats lost narrowly.

The current Commissioners Court accurately reflects the racial make-up and political behavior of the county. Two of the districts, Commissioner Precincts 1 & 2, are majority minority and elect the minority candidate of choice – Commissioner Roderick Miles in Precinct 1 and Commissioner Alisa Simmons in Precinct 2. The two other districts, Commissioner Precincts 3 & 4, elect the Anglo voter’s candidates of choice – Commissioner Matt Krause in Precinct 3 and Commissioner Manny Ramirez in Precinct 4. County Judge Tim O’Hare was elected to his County Judge office by a narrow margin in 2022 getting only 53 percent of the vote countywide. O’Hare lost in minority Precincts 1 & 2 and prevailed countywide only by winning handily in Anglo-controlled Precincts 3 & 4.

Precincts 1 and 2 Elect the Minority Candidate of Choice

In 2022, African American leader Alisa Simmons won Tarrant Commissioner Precinct 2 (following the election of African American leader Devan Allen in 2018) consolidating Precinct 2 as a district where minority voters can elect their candidate of choice. In 2024, African American leader Roderick Miles, Jr. won in Commissioner Precinct 1 (following the over two decades of service by African American leader Roy C. Brooks). The wins by Simmons and Miles secured two minority seats on the five-member Commissioner Court.

Gross Racial Gerrymander Underway

To undermine minority control of Precinct 2 and to weaken or isolate minority voters in Precinct 1, MAGA Republicans are attempting to force adoption of a grossly racially gerrymandered new commissioner precinct map. The attack on minority voting strength is being engineered by MAGA extremist County Judge Tim O’Hare. The MAGA-connected legal organization Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is providing legal support for O’Hare’s racial gerrymander and has secured a tax-supported retainer. PILF led the effort to remove the protection of minority coalition districts in Galveston County and has regularly challenged voter registrations and made false or unsupported claims about voter fraud.

Tarrant Commissioner Precincts – Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP)

Tarrant Commissioner Precincts – Key Down-Ballot Election Results

Redistricting Definitions

• Census: The official count from the U.S. Commerce Department determining the population and racial makeup at the census block level. The census is conducting every ten years and is used to assure one-person-one-vote requirements during redistricting.
• District: A geographic area represented by an elected official such as a congressional district, a State House district, and a county commissioner precinct.
• Redistricting: The process of drawing new boundaries for electoral districts, typically done every 10 years following the release of a new census.
• Mid-Decade Redistricting: The unusual circumstance of district boundaries being redrawn in the absence of a new census. The process typically takes place only when existing districts have been ruled to be in violation of the law.
• Reapportionment: The process of reallocating seats in a legislative body based on population changes. (The most common example is states gaining or losing congressional seats following the release of a new census).
• Gerrymandering: Manipulating district boundaries to favor a particular racial, political, or other group.
• Racial Gerrymandering: Drawing districts to dilute the voting strength of a legally protected racial minority or to improperly enhance the voting strength of a nonprotected racial group.
• Partisan Gerrymandering: Drawing districts to favor one political party over another.
• The Voting Rights Act (VRA): A landmark federal law originally enacted in 1965 to prohibit voting discrimination through the erecting of barriers to voting, unfair district boundaries, and other efforts to undermine minority voting strength. While the VRA has been weakened by recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, intentionally targeting minority voters to undermine and dilute their voting strength remains a violation of the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.
• Contiguity: A requirement that districts be connected, with no part geographically isolated from the rest.
• Compactness: A measure of the degree to which a district is geographically tight and without or with few extensions.
• Community of Interest: A principle that a group of individuals share certain common concerns, goals and values. The group may or may not be within a geographically compact area.
• Voting Age Population (VAP): Voting age population is the number of persons 18 years of age or older within a defined jurisdiction (eg. state, county, city, district). It can be divided by race and gender. VAP is a precise enumeration calculated down to the census block level and released as part of the decennial census.
• Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP): The voting age population of persons who are also United States citizens. CVAP is an estimated count based on information gathered by the American Community Survey (ACS) and released as a five year average updated each year. It is not a precise enumeration but an estimate calculated down to groups of census blocks.

Tarrant County Commission Mid-Decade Redistricting Facts to Share

• The current effort to redraw Tarrant County Commissioner Precincts is being rushed and crammed down the throats of Tarrant County voters. A large majority of citizens who have commented on this effort have strongly opposed any changes in the current map. The process underway will not allow citizens time to properly scrutinize changes or formulate substantive comments and objections.

• The Tarrant County Commissioners Court deliberately retained the current districts as drawn in 2011 after a fair deliberative process and with a unanimous vote in 2021. The districts accurately reflect the demographic makeup of Tarrant County.

• We are five years and two elections past the last census. Tarrant County’s population continues to grow rapidly. Any data used for redistricting now would be badly out-of-date.

• No provision in Texas state law authorizes the county to redraw commissioner precinct boundaries mid-decade. Tim O’Hare and his allies on the County Commission are acting outside their legal authority and doing so – especially for the purpose of undermining minority voting rights – will lead to the courthouse and a bad result.

• Judge O’Hare and every commissioner knows that the citizen voting age populations in both Precinct 1 and Precinct 2 are majority minority. Minority citizens in both districts have demonstrated their ability to elect their candidates of choice. Weakening or otherwise undermining the ability of minority voters in these districts to elect their candidates of choice is an act of intentional discrimination in violation of the Voting Rights Act and will destroy the valuable political balance that now exists in Tarrant County.

• The intentions driving this effort to change the boundaries of Precinct 2 were seen clearly last year when Judge Tim O’Hare told African American Commissioner Alisa Simmons to “sit down and be quiet.” Any O’Hare supported effort to change Precinct boundaries is essentially telling minority voters in Precinct 2 and in Precinct 1 and in all of Tarrant County to “sit down and be quiet.”

• Precinct 2 is bounded on all sides by Precinct 1, which is also a majority minority Democratic district. Precinct 1 Commissioner Roderick Miles and Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons both oppose any changes to the current map. Any change in their boundaries would be an act of intentional racial discrimination.

• Tim O’Hare has no moral or political standing to change Precinct 2 or Precinct 1 boundaries. In 2022, he was rejected by minority voters in both districts. In nearly every other statewide and local county-wide election, both districts supported the minority candidate of choice. It is arrogant, inappropriate, and likely illegal for Tim O’Hare to force boundary changes against the will of voters and their chosen representatives.

• The legal counsel Tim O’Hare handpicked to manage the racial gerrymander is Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF). This organization has promoted and defended election deniers and argued to weaken the voting rights act in litigation in Texas and other places. Both Commissioners Miles and Simmons opposed the retention of PILF.

Tim O’Hare’s History of Racism

Tim O’Hare has a history of racial hostility and discrimination and considers racial attacks part of a Republican officeholder’s job. During his campaign for county judge, O’Hare publicly stated “If you’re a Republican office-holder and your haven’t been called a racist, then you probably haven’t done a thing.” As the Chair of the Republican Party of Tarrant County, O’Hare solicited and accepted the support of the extremist organization True Texas Project which has been identified as an anti-government hate group that espouses racist replacement theory views. As Mayor of the small Dallas County City of Farmers Branch, O’Hare engaged in a overtly racist effort to deny home or apartment rental to persons who did not prove their citizenship. A federal judge ruled his actions discriminatory and the City of Farmers Branch was forced to pay well over $6 million as a result of O’Hare’s actions.

Take Action-NOW!

Show Up!

May 6: Commissioners Court Briefing (10:00 am, 100 E Weatherford St, Fort Worth, TX 76102)

May 14: Precinct 1 Redistricting Public Hearing (6:00 pm, 4660 Horne St. Fort Worth, TX 76107)

May 17: Precinct 2 Redistricting Public Hearing (10:00 am, 700 East Abrams Arlington, Texas 76108)

May 20: Commissioners Court Briefing (10:00 am, 100 E Weatherford St, Fort Worth, TX 76102)

May 21: Precinct 3 Redistricting Public Hearing (6:00 pm, 645 Grapevine Hwy Hurst, TX 76054)

June 3: Commissioners Court Proposed Vote on Map (10:00 am, 100 E Weatherford St, Fort Worth, TX 76102)

*specific times and locations for Precinct 3 & 4 public hearings will be posted when available

Speak Up!

Call and email Tim O’Hare and your commissioner to tell them you support the current county court map unchanged. Oppose their efforts to intentionally discriminate against minority voters in Tarrant County!

COUNTY JUDGE – Tim O’Hare

COMMISSIONER PRECINCT 1 – Roderick Miles Jr

COMMISSIONER PRECINCT 2 – Alisa Simmons

COMMISSIONER PRECINCT 3 – Matt Krause

COMMISSIONER PRECINCT 4 – Manny Ramirez