Congressman Marc Veasey dropped out of the race for Tarrant County judge Monday evening, just one week after announcing a bid for the seat.
The Fort Worth Democrat, who was elected to the U.S. House in 2012, will serve the remainder of his term that expires in January. The deadline to run for the congressional District 33 he represents passed, which means Veasey cannot run for reelection.
His congressional district was one of five that Texas lawmakers redrew to favor Republican candidates at President Donald Trump’s directive in an effort to retain and strengthen a GOP majority in the U.S. House.
“Right now, my responsibility is to stay in Congress and continue the fight where the stakes are highest — holding Donald Trump accountable, pushing back against MAGA extremism, and defending the Democratic values our community depends on,” Veasey wrote in a statement. “That is where I believe I can do the most good, and that is the work I intend to continue until the end of my term.”
Veasey’s decision to drop out means Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons will face only Millennium Anton C. Woods for the Democratic nomination in the March primary election. Business owner Lydia Bean dropped out of the race Dec. 8, the same evening that Veasey announced his campaign. Incumbent County Judge Tim O’Hare, seeking his second term, is being challenged by precinct chair Robert Buker for the Republican nomination.
Neither O’Hare nor Simmons immediately returned requests for comment Monday evening.
Allison Campolo, chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, said in a statement that the party remains focused on its responsibility to conduct a primary election that produces “strong, viable candidates” for the general election in November.
“We understand that candidates make decisions about their campaigns for a variety of reasons, and we respect Congressman Marc Veasey’s decision to withdraw from the race for Tarrant County judge,” Campolo’s statement read. “The party continues to be excited about the Democratic field that emerged and the opportunity to offer voters strong choices across the board in November.”
Veasey’s run for county judge came as a surprise to many, as political analysts expected him to announce he was running for District 30 after Texas’ redrawn congressional maps pushed his District 33 entirely into Dallas County.
Many speculated he would seek Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s District 30, which stretches into Tarrant County. She announced plans to run for the U.S. Senate, prompting a shift in which offices Democrats were seeking.
Veasey’s announcement last week — shortly after Simmons also announced a bid for the county judge seat — immediately drew criticism from some local Democrats.
Critics argued that Veasey was attempting to steal the seat from Simmons, who has experience on the commissioners court.
Veasey said he was filing for that race because he refused to “sit on the sidelines while County Judge Tim O’Hare drags this community backward.”
“I’m not running away from a fight — I’m running toward the next battle,” he said.
This is a developing story.
Cecilia Lenzen and Drew Shaw are government accountability reporters for the Fort Worth Report. Contact them at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org and drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2025/12/15/congressman-marc-veasey-drops-out-of-tarrant-county-judge-race/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=80&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>
<img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://fortworthreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=330088&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://fortworthreport.org/2025/12/15/congressman-marc-veasey-drops-out-of-tarrant-county-judge-race/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”//cdn.parsely.com/keys/fortworthreport.org/p.js”></script>