Democrats have dropped their challenge to Republicans’ redistricting of Tarrant County’s four commissioners court precincts, leaving the redrawn boundaries in effect for the 2026 primary elections and beyond.
The new map increases GOP partisan advantage on the five-member governing body from 3-2 to 4-1, including the Republican county judge who is elected countywide.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Chad Dunn filed a notice of dismissal on Monday.
Several Tarrant County voters represented by Dunn and other Democrat attorneys had challenged the redistricting, claiming Republicans intentionally redrew commissioner precincts mid-cycle to disenfranchise minorities.
County officials defended the new boundaries as partisan gerrymandering that is permissible under current voting rights law.
The dismissal is a big win for Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare and the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which represented the county in the redistricting case.
O’Hare, a Republican, campaigned in 2022 on drawing new commissioner precincts to better reflect the county’s partisan majority. The previous administration chose not to redraw the boundaries after the 2020 decennial census.
Tarrant County Commissioners Court voted in June along party lines to approve a new map that fulfilled O’Hare’s campaign promise. Democrats promptly sued and sought to temporarily block the redistricting plan while they fought to permanently overturn it.
In September, a federal district court denied Democrats a preliminary injunction.
In late October, a three-judge panel of the U.S Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s ruling, agreeing that the Democrats were unlikely to succeed on the merits of any of their claims.
“I welcome plaintiffs’ decision to dismiss their own case,” O’Hare told Texas Scorecard. “From the outset, the claims against Tarrant County lacked merit. The County’s action was lawful and constitutional, and this dismissal confirms it. As a result, Tarrant County will remain the best place to live and run a business in America.”
County judge and commissioner precincts 2 and 4 are up for reelection in 2026. Primary elections will be held on March 3. Candidate filing ends December 8.
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