Ron Wright was successful in his bid for Congress, despite losing the Tarrant County portion of his district to his Democrat opponent.
After U.S. Congressman Joe Barton announced he would not seek re-election just days before the filing deadline in December, conservatives quickly rallied to Tarrant County Tax Assessor Ron Wright as he announced a campaign for Barton’s seat.
Their hard work paid off in a tough re-election year for some Texas Republicans.
For example, despite winning statewide by a three-point margin, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz narrowly lost in Tarrant County to Robert “Beto” O’Rourke (49.3 vs. 49.9 percent). Tarrant is typically a safe county for Republicans; in fact, it’s one of the largest urban counties held by Republicans in the nation.
On Tuesday, Wright beat his Democrat opponent by securing 53.3 percent of the total vote. More than 73 percent of the 255,543 voters cast their ballot early, mirroring similar trends across Tarrant County and the state. While the urban, “purple” portion of the district went to the Democrat by a 5.5-point margin, rural Texans pulled Wright across the finish line to a comfortable victory.
In the 2018 Republican primary, Wright beat a crowded field of 11 candidates to win his party’s nomination, narrowly winning a primary runoff with 52.2 percent of the vote.
Wright is a known conservative commodity, and was first elected to the seat of Tarrant County Tax Assessor in 2012 after previous stints working for Barton in Congress and serving on the Arlington City Council. Most recently, he gained notoriety as a vocal champion of property tax reform and also by refusing to enforce holds on cameras placed by red light camera companies.
Wright ran as a bold conservative, stating, “The liberals want to give you ‘free stuff,’ take your liberty, and continue the murder of unborn children. I believe that you should have more of your own money, that individual privacy should be protected, and that the most vulnerable among us must be defended!”
Wright was endorsed in his campaign by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Texas Right to Life, State Sen. Konni Burton (R–Colleyville), and all of Tarrant County’s Republican state representatives, save Charlie Geren (Fort Worth).
