Family, friends and candidates gather at the Tarrant County GOP’s election night watch party on Tuesday March 3, 2026.
Emily Holshouser
Republicans were feeling optimistic about several high-profile races in the Texas primary election Tuesday evening as the Tarrant County GOP gathered in Fort Worth.
A crowd of about 40 people consisting of candidates, friends, family members, and local leadership – including Tarrant County GOP Chair Tim Davis — gathered at the GOP’s headquarters as early results began to display on two televisions.
Republicans said that if U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett took the nomination over state Rep. James Talarico in the Democratic primary of U.S. Senate it would be a boon for their party.
“We love to run against Jasmine Crockett, because she does not represent Texas,” said Paul Segal, who was not running for office but said he knows many of the Republican candidates. “She’s anti-border, anti-police, anti-business. She’s [got] very California values. She’s not Texas values.”
Crockett said late Tuesday evening while speaking to the crowd at her campaign watch party in Dallas that results would not be expected until later this week after a judge extended Dallas County polling hours. The Texas Supreme Court stayed that order, saying “votes cast by voters who were not in line to vote at 7 p.m. should be separated” from votes cast later in the night.
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare was feeling optimistic about the upcoming general election after easily fending off a challenge from Robert Trevor Buker.
“I feel good about tonight, and I feel good about what we’re going to do in November,” O’Hare said. O’Hare declared victory in his race early Tuesday night, and will likely face Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons in the general election.
The incumbent county judge’s victory shows that “voters reward people who make promises and keep them,” O’Hare said. Simmons, a noted opponent of O’Hare on the commissioners court, is guilty of “racist politics” and engaging in political theater, O’Hare told reporters Tuesday evening.
“I think we’ll have a lot to share with voters in the coming weeks and months, and you can rest assured I am never going to stand up in commissioners court and flip off the side I don’t agree with,” O’Hare said. “I think Tarrant County would reject that kind of radical extremism from a Democrat opponent.”
Tarrant County District Clerk Tom Wilder, who is running for re-election, was closed-lipped about who he voted for in the Republican primaries.
Among those races, U.S. Senate. Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton are headed into a May 26 runoff for the U.S. Senate after neither candidate won more than 50% of the vote in Tuesday’s election.
Wilder said that for both U.S. Senate primary races, it’s often about style instead of substance.
“John is pretty laid back. I used to talk to him about that when he was running for attorney general,” Wilder said.
Staff reporters Eleanor Dearman and Rachel Royster contributed reporting.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Lillie Davidson is a breaking news reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She graduated from TCU in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, is fluent in Spanish, and can complete a crossword in five minutes.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Emily Holshouser is a local news reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.