<\/p>\n
An elephant painted to resemble the Texas flag greets visitors to every GOP Convention. <\/p>\n
Ben Noey Jr.<\/p>\n
Some Tarrant County Republicans who weren\u2019t chosen as delegates to the Texas GOP convention denied claims that they supported Democrats.<\/p>\n
Most who were not selected at the Senate District 9 convention also opposed the proposed split of the Keller school district. The usually solid red district, which spans northern and western Tarrant County, flipped to the Democrats on Jan. 31 when Taylor Rehmet<\/a> defeated Republican Leigh Wambsgans<\/a>s in a runoff.<\/p>\n Zee Wilcox, who had supported former Southlake Mayor John Huffman in the Nov. 3 special election for the Senate seat, said she never supported Democrats, including Rehmet.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the GOP wants to win SD9 she [Wambsganss] needs to get out of the race,\u201d Wilcox said. \u201cHuffman was the better candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilcox sued Tarrant County GOP chair Tim Davis when she was removed from the ballot in the House District 98 primary because of problems with her paperwork. She regained her spot on the ballot but lost her bid for election.<\/p>\n Wilcox said she worked to help elect Republican County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare and other candidates.<\/p>\n \u201cI took the heat for them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Jim Sutton, the SD 9 chair, said in an email to the Star-Telegram that he did not provide any information concerning the people who were not chosen as delegates to the Texas GOP convention<\/a>, scheduled for June 11-13 in Houston.<\/p>\n Regarding the Keller school district split, Sutton said those who voted against Wilcox, Barbara Brewer, James Trimm and Jennifer and Bernard Guerrero as delegates mentioned social media posts in support of Democrats. Those who wanted them as delegates made \u201chearsay\u201d references about the Keller school district split, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was not my place to investigate the claims or \u2018fact-check\u2019 what was said by the delegates, only to ensure that all had the right to be heard regarding the issue of adding anyone to the state delegate list that the Nominations Committee delivered to the convention for ratification,\u201d Sutton said.<\/p>\n For her part, Wilcox said she cast a blank ballot in the Jan. 31 runoff election. After she and her husband voted, went to a restaurant to celebrate. Her husband Brian posted a photo of the couple at the restaurant on his Facebook page and said, \u201cWe voted. Now, we\u2019re celebrating.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are supposed to protect freedom of speech, constitutional rights,\u201d Wilcox said. Now, all of that is off the table,\u201d Wilcox said.<\/p>\n Brewer said she also supported Huffman and did not support Rehmet. She said she intentionally left her ballot blank when she voted in the runoff.<\/p>\n Of the 95,179 ballots cast in the runoff, 58 were left blank<\/a>, according to Tarrant County Elections Administration.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t tell us that it had anything to do with supporting Democrats,\u201d Brewer said.<\/p>\n Brewer said she runs a nonpartisan Facebook page called Keller ISD United.<\/p>\n She posted about a meet and greet for Huffman, and got pushback asking why she didn\u2019t post about events for Rehmet.<\/p>\n Brewer said the map of far north Fort Worth is no longer red.<\/p>\n \u201dIt turned blue for a reason,\u201d she referring to the efforts to split the Keller school district.<\/p>\n This story was originally published March 31, 2026 at 7:08 PM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n