Some Democrats see missed opportunity in Tarrant County as Republicans regain support
Tarrant County is the largest Republican-run county in the U.S. After more than a decade of booming population growth, elections became gradually closer, turning the county more purple. But in the 2024 election, Democratic hopes of flipping it blue were largely dashed.
President-elect Donald Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris in Tarrant County 51.9% to 46.7%, by more than 42,000 votes. In 2020, Trump only narrowly lost the county to President Biden, after beating Hillary Clinton by 8 percentage points in 2016.
Sen. Ted Cruz also improved his performance in Tarrant County over his last campaign, despite narrowly losing in the county to Rep. Colin Allred. The Dallas congressman had 400,251 votes — 48.87% of the vote, while Cruz had 399,000 votes, or 48.72%, on Tuesday. In 2018, former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke took the county by 4,308 votes. Cruz handily won Tarrant County in 2012, his first campaign for Senate.
Going into Tuesday, Tarrant County Democrats had reason to be optimistic about continuing their gains. Gov. Greg Abbott won the county by 4 percentage points in the 2022 midterms after winning it by more than 10 points in 2018, which was a stronger year for Democrats nationwide.
One prominent local Democrat, however, is warning that Tarrant County will remain out of reach unless party leaders change course. Trey Hunt, who lost the 12th congressional district race to Republican State Sen. Craig Goldman, issued a statement Tuesday night criticizing Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa, among others.
Hunt wrote that he "remain[s] firm in my belief that the missed opportunity to win Texas's 12th Congressional seat is a consequence of Gilberty Hinojosa and the Democratic National Committee's lack of meaningful investment in purple counties like Tarrant County, Texas. The consistent absence of support from the broader party apparatus has limited our progress in Texas politics and contributed to underperformance when reach change was within reach. I appreciate the efforts and diligence of Parker and Tarrant counties parties [sic] to move the needle."
Eighty percent of the votes for the 12th congressional district came from Tarrant County on Tuesday, with the rest from heavily conservative Parker County.
For his part, Hunt says he will not run for the seat again for the foreseeable future.
The Democratic candidate in the race for Tarrant County Sheriff also came up short, even as Republican incumbent Bill Waybourn faces sharp scrutiny for recent inmate deaths in the county jail.