U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at Republican Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare’s re-election campaign event on Sept. 2, 2026.
Rachel Royster
rroyster@star-telegram.com
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz headlined the fall campaign kick-off for Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare’s run for re-election Wednesday night. He said the stakes are high for the November midterm election, and if Republicans don’t show up to vote, they will lose Tarrant County and Texas.
O’Hare is up against Democrat Commissioner Alisa Simmons. He is running on the same campaign promises from his 2022 election of cutting property taxes, maintaining an efficient budget and prioritizing public safety. As Cruz said, O’Hare “did DOGE before DOGE was cool.”
Though it was an event dedicated to O’Hare’s race for the county judge seat, Cruz spent the most time talking about Republican successes in Congress and the threat of the U.S. Senate Democratic candidate, James Talarico.
Democrats have “lost their ever-loving mind,” Cruz said. The threats against the nation have never been greater than they are in the midterm elections, he told the Grapevine Convention Center crowd of a few hundred.
“This is no longer a contest between left and right,” Cruz said. “This is no longer a contest between liberal and conservative. This is a contest between crazy and common sense.”
Talarico is a dangerous man, and the stakes of this election are massive, Cruz said.
Though Cruz never instructed the audience to vote for Republican candidate Ken Paxton by name, he did urge them to vote Republican down the ballot.
“The men and women who will save Tarrant County and the men and women who will save Texas are right here in this room,” Cruz said. “I want to ask every one of you to go out and vote for Tim O’Hare and vote for Republicans up and down the ballot 10 times … if you get nine other people who wouldn’t have voted to show up and vote, you just voted 10 times.”
Earlier in the night, O’Hare and the elected officials introducing him had a similar message for his supporters.
“The whole entire country is watching Tarrant County,” O’Hare said. “Our challenge to every one of you: our challenge is, what are you going to do to make sure on Nov. 4 you wake up smiling?”
In the opening prayer, Fort Worth pastor and senior advisor to the governor Nate Schatzline prayed over the election.
“Father, I pray that you would wake up the church, the true hope of the world, your bride, Father, that this is going to be a season where we see believers across our great state rise up like never before and vote with their biblical values.”
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Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.