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Far-right Republicans triumphed in Tarrant County on Tuesday, strengthening their grip on native authorities that included reelecting a sheriff with ties to election denial actions, and sustaining GOP management over a vital electoral battleground.
Republican Sheriff Invoice Waybourn held on to his seat, and former state Rep. Matt Krause, a conservative Republican, gained his race for commissioners court docket, guaranteeing a GOP majority on the county governing board. Democrat Roderick Miles additionally earned a spot on the court docket representing a predictably blue precinct.
Former President Donald Trump additionally gained Tarrant County — a reversal of 2020, when he misplaced there. In the meantime, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz trailed his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, by lower than a proportion level within the county early Wednesday.
Tarrant County is the nation’s most populous Republican-led county. After President Joe Biden narrowly gained there in 2020, voters elected in 2022 a hardline conservative, Tim O’Hare, to county decide — the very best elected workplace. Tuesday’s election is prone to enhance the “culture war” agenda that O’Hare has pursued in workplace, and speed up native authorities’s ongoing transfer away from the bipartisanship on which it as soon as prided itself.
Krause is a pacesetter in Texas’ conservative Christian authorized motion. He has advocated for requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public college school rooms, and as a lawmaker investigated Texas college districts over books that taught on racism or sexuality. His election places two distinguished far-right figures on the five-seat county commissioners court docket, together with O’Hare.
Waybourn has shut ties to the Constitutional Sheriff motion, a far-right legislation enforcement group that believes elected sheriffs have nearly unchecked authority to defy state and federal legal guidelines that they deem unconstitutional. He spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally in 2020, and was not too long ago named “Sheriff of the Year” by the Claremont Institute, a assume tank whose leaders have advocated for Christian nationalism and had been central to Trump’s makes an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Waybourn survived a problem from Democrat Patrick Moses, a legislation enforcement officer-turned-reverend whose marketing campaign centered closely on the greater than 65 individuals who died within the county jail beneath Waybourn. Moses accused Waybourn of focusing extra on nationwide politics than his native duties.
Waybourn and Krause gained their races regardless of issues from some space Republicans in regards to the path of county authorities. Earlier this 12 months, Glen Whitley, a Republican who led the county from 2007 to 2022, advised The Texas Tribune that O’Hare has ruled with an “us vs. them” mentality — a stark distinction from the reasonable, business-friendly strategy that helped the GOP maintain management over the fast-diversifying county for many years.
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Underneath O’Hare, the commissioners court docket has modified election guidelines, scaled again range and harassment coaching necessities for native authorities businesses, and reduce ties with youth applications as a result of the teams administering them taught about racial inequality. On the similar time, O’Hare has repeatedly focused non-public residents who had been essential of him. Forward of the election, the county decide unsuccessfully tried to curb early voting entry by closing polling places on some faculty campuses.
Krause replaces outgoing Commissioner Gary Fickes after comfortably defeating Democratic challenger Laura Leeman in Precinct 3, which covers the northeastern a part of the county and consists of cities reminiscent of Southlake and Keller. A member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, Krause served within the Texas Home for 5 phrases. Throughout that point he requested college superintendents to verify whether or not any books on an inventory of 850 titles had been of their libraries and school rooms that “make students feel discomfort,” setting off a statewide GOP purge of sure books, typically referring to LGBTQ+ themes, in public colleges and libraries.
Tarrant County is an epicenter of conservative Christian actions that argue America’s founding was God-ordained, and that Christians should have dominion over all components of society. Krause’s election is the newest victory for that motion, and for native church buildings who’ve defied federal prohibitions on political exercise as a way to elect their allies to state and native authorities.
Krause is an legal professional with the First Liberty Institute, which has been instrumental in lawsuits which have infused extra Christianity into public life and eroded church-state separations. Final 12 months, as Texas lawmakers thought-about a invoice to require the Ten Commandments in public college school rooms, he testified that Texas may grow to be a nationwide “model” for passing legal guidelines that’d spark a “restoration of faith in America.” The invoice didn’t go, however lawmakers are anticipated to pursue it once more in the course of the 2025 legislative session.
Precinct 1, which covers the county’s southwest, went to Miles, who outgoing commissioner Roy Charles Brooks endorsed. The area is the place a lot of the county’s Democratic votes sometimes reside as Miles gained his race towards Republican Michael Barber.
In a tighter race, Waybourn gained reelection regardless of an 8-year tenure marked by controversy.
Waybourn has confronted calls to resign from a Democratic commissioner and local people members due to deaths within the county jail. Waybourn requested the U.S. Division of Justice to evaluation the situations on the jail in Might. The outcomes of it confirmed that though a number of practices on the jail met or exceed nationwide requirements, officers may enhance the situations of these with vital wants, together with as these in danger for suicide.
The Native Accountability PAC, a nationwide progressive group centered on sheriff races, launched a six-figure marketing campaign to assist Moses unseat Waybourn. Moses obtained the endorsements of native North Texas newspapers and state Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, whereas Gov. Greg Abbott and native legislation enforcement associations have endorsed Waybourn. Together with O’Hare and District Lawyer Phil Sorrells, Waybourn is a member of the county’s election integrity unit, created final 12 months to concentrate on potential voter fraud, which has not filed a single case.
Tarrant County Republicans additionally gained different native races, such because the county’s tax assessor-collector and native judicial races.
