{"id":377846,"date":"2026-07-18T10:23:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T10:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/377846\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T10:23:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T10:23:29","slug":"tim-ohare-leads-in-fundraising-spending-among-tarrant-commissioner-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/377846\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim O\u2019Hare leads in fundraising, spending among Tarrant commissioner candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"&quot;byline&quot;\">by Cecilia Lenzen, Fort Worth Report <br \/>July 18, 2026<\/p>\n<p>The candidates for Tarrant County Commissioners Court report about $462,000 in cumulative campaign spending so far this year, ahead of the November midterm elections, according to a Fort Worth Report review of public financial disclosures.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The six candidates raised nearly $600,000 in cash from January to mid-July, with County Judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.electtimohare.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Tim O\u2019Hare<\/a>, a Republican seeking his second term, far outpacing the others in both campaign fundraising and spending.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The campaign contributions came from a range of donors, including political action committees, oil and gas firms, investors, real estate developers and local activists, as well as elected officials across the county and state.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Democrat <a href=\"https:\/\/votealisasimmons.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Alisa Simmons<\/a>, a county commissioner challenging O\u2019Hare for the county judge seat, raised nearly a third of the $315,000 O\u2019Hare saw in contributions. Her campaign reports spending about $75,000 from cash donations \u2014 about half of O\u2019Hare\u2019s reported spending.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hare\u2019s campaign war chest holds more than $700,000 in cash as of July 15, per his finance reports. He plans to use those funds to expand his campaign\u2019s voter contact program through \u201cmail, digital and grassroots outreach,\u201d according to a news release from his campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTarrant County voters know our record, and the more they hear about it, the more they support us,\u201d O\u2019Hare said in the release. \u201cWe\u2019re raising the resources we need to finish strong, and we\u2019re not letting up until every voter has heard our message.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Interactive or visual content\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/29719264\/embed#?secret=JOMLSJGlpa\" data-secret=\"JOMLSJGlpa\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"575\" width=\"700\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>Simmons, whose campaign did not return a request for comment Friday, has readily acknowledged the race for county judge could be an uphill battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis by no means will be an easy task,\u201d Simmons told the Report after <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/03\/03\/ohare-simmons-take-the-lead-in-early-voting-for-tarrant-county-judge-primary-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">winning<\/a> the Democratic nomination in the March primaries. \u201cI think it will be a battle royale.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"JLGLNX9yg1\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/03\/03\/ohare-simmons-take-the-lead-in-early-voting-for-tarrant-county-judge-primary-elections\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">O\u2019Hare, Simmons head into November after dominating primary elections<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cO\u2019Hare, Simmons head into November after dominating primary elections\u201d \u2014 Fort Worth Report\" src=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/03\/03\/ohare-simmons-take-the-lead-in-early-voting-for-tarrant-county-judge-primary-elections\/embed\/#?secret=iUh6ukxMBv#?secret=JLGLNX9yg1\" data-secret=\"JLGLNX9yg1\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>Three of the five commissioners court seats are on the Nov. 3 <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/05\/31\/more-than-70-races-on-the-tarrant-county-ballot-in-november-here-are-the-nominees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">ballot<\/a>: county judge, who represents the entire county; commissioner of Precinct 2, which includes southeast and southwest Tarrant; and commissioner of Precinct 4, which covers northwest Tarrant.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The midterms mark the first election under the commissioners court <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2025\/10\/29\/federal-appeals-court-upholds-decision-allowing-tarrant-countys-redrawn-map-to-go-into-effect\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">map<\/a> approved last summer. O\u2019Hare and Republican commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez said they wanted to maintain and strengthen the court\u2019s GOP majority by redrawing Simmons\u2019 precinct to favor conservative candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As November approaches, Republican candidates in the two commissioner races maintain significantly more cash than their Democratic opponents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Political scientists and local analysts have said the midterms mark a pivotal <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/02\/02\/does-democratic-win-spell-trouble-for-tarrant-countys-gop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">election<\/a> for Tarrant County, historically a red voting block that shifted closer to purple by supporting Democratic candidates at the top of the ticket in recent elections.<\/p>\n<p>In February, O\u2019Hare urged supporters to <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/02\/02\/texas-ag-ken-paxton-gop-officials-call-on-republicans-to-fight-for-tarrant-county\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">mobilize<\/a> conservatives to vote in the midterms, following the upset <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/01\/31\/texas-senate-runoff-election-saturday-draws-nations-attention-to-tarrant-county\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">election<\/a> of Democrat Taylor Rehmet to the Texas Senate seat that represents much of Tarrant County.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Who\u2019s funding the county judge candidates?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last month, O\u2019Hare\u2019s campaign raked in about a quarter million in cash. His top donors included both individual investors and firms investing in oil and gas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hare\u2019s largest individual donor, who gave $50,000, was Don Woodard, president of Fort Worth-based investment firm Western Commerce Group. Another $30,000 came from Michael Radler, founder and CEO of Tug Hill, an oil and gas investment firm.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cody Campbell and John Sellers, the co-CEOs of Fort Worth-based energy company Double Eagle Energy Holdings, each gave $12,500 to O\u2019Hare\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Since January, O\u2019Hare has accepted contributions from five PACs: Tarrant County Law Enforcement Association; Texas Realtors; Texas Nurse Practitioners; the insurance company Higginbotham; and Accountable Government Fund, a PAC funded by prominent Fort Worth businessman Ed Bass and his wife.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Simmons\u2019 fundraising this year relied mostly on small cash donations from grassroots supporters, with three contributions of $5,000 or more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Simmons\u2019 largest contributor by far was real estate developer Walter Horton, who gave $18,000 through multiple donations this year in addition to $56,000 last year. Her next largest contribution this year came from Gerald Alley, a commercial construction and real estate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmagazine.com\/publications\/d-ceo\/2021\/november\/meet-the-force-behind-texas-largest-black-owned-construction-and-real-estate-company\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">developer<\/a> who gave $5,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In February, before the primaries, Simmons received about $37,000 of in-kind support from the Texas Organizing Project, a PAC aimed at building political power in Black and brown communities through grassroots outreach and advocacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>About $67,000 remains in Simmons\u2019 campaign coffers \u2014 roughly 10% of O\u2019Hare\u2019s remaining total.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Donors to commissioner candidates\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Of the two commissioners races, Precinct 4 has garnered far more financial support. The candidates are <a href=\"https:\/\/mannyramirez.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ramirez<\/a>, a former Fort Worth police officer seeking his second term, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vote4nydia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Nydia C\u00e1rdenas<\/a>, a leadership coach and grassroots activist.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ramirez, who did not face a primary challenger, raised about twice as much as C\u00e1rdenas this year. His largest contribution, $10,000, came from Gary Blake, CEO of Creative Solutions in Healthcare in Fort Worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The roughly $42,000 C\u00e1rdenas raised this year came primarily from small individual donors, with only two contributions of more than $1,500. Those came from Horton, the real estate developer also funding Simmons\u2019 campaign, and Ann Zadeh, a former Fort Worth City Council member who remains civically active as an advocate at local government meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>C\u00e1rdenas\u2019 campaign has about $14,000 left as of mid-July, or about 5% of Ramirez\u2019s reported cash on-hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Interactive or visual content\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/29720092\/embed#?secret=ZiEQ9Gupt1\" data-secret=\"ZiEQ9Gupt1\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"575\" width=\"700\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>Both candidates for the Precinct 2 seat left open by Simmons previously held public office and launched their campaigns last year with funds left over from past campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Republican <a href=\"https:\/\/tonytinderholt.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Tony Tinderholt<\/a>, who served 12 years in the Texas House, started his campaign for commissioners court with about $145,000. He raised a little more than $7,000 in cash this year \u2014 about 20% of the amount raised by his Democratic opponent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drjaredwilliams.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Jared Williams<\/a>, who served on Fort Worth City Council for four years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tinderholt <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/03\/03\/after-redistricting-tarrant-county-voters-to-choose-precinct-2-candidate-nominations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">won<\/a> his party\u2019s primary with more than 80% of votes in March, while Williams went to a <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/05\/26\/democratic-primary-voters-decide-november-nominees-in-todays-runoff\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">runoff<\/a> election in late May after a three-way primary for the Democratic nomination.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Interactive or visual content\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/29719943\/embed#?secret=JaJ8ZI2jK5\" data-secret=\"JaJ8ZI2jK5\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"575\" width=\"700\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>Williams received his largest contributions this year during the primary campaign. They included $5,000 from Jeff Postell, president and CEO of the construction firm Post L Group; $3,000 from Nancy Rimmer of the agriculture company RNR Production Land and Cattle; and $2,500 from For The Children, a PAC that <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/06\/20\/bass-family-firefighters-union-among-top-donors-to-fort-worth-city-council\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">supported<\/a> the rise of charter schools with funding from Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, a longtime charter schools advocate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The largest contribution to Tinderholt\u2019s campaign, $10,000, came last year from Justice for Texas Victims, a PAC advocating for the 7th Amendment right to jury trials. Last month, he received $2,500 from the Tarrant County Law Enforcement Association PAC.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/07\/18\/tim-ohare-leads-in-fundraising-spending-among-tarrant-commissioner-candidates\/mailto:cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Disclosure: Higginbotham is a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. At the Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy <a href=\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/about\/fort-worth-report-editorial-independence-policy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This &lt;a target=&#8221;_blank&#8221; href=&#8221;https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/07\/18\/tim-ohare-leads-in-fundraising-spending-among-tarrant-commissioner-candidates\/&#8221;&gt;article&lt;\/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&#8221;_blank&#8221; href=&#8221;https:\/\/fortworthreport.org&#8221;&gt;Fort Worth Report&lt;\/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&#8221;_blank&#8221; href=&#8221;https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/&#8221;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;\/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&#8221;https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&#8243; style=&#8221;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&#8221;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>&lt;img id=&#8221;republication-tracker-tool-source&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=676677&amp;amp;ga4=2820184429&#8243; style=&#8221;width:1px;height:1px;&#8221;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &#8220;https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/07\/18\/tim-ohare-leads-in-fundraising-spending-among-tarrant-commissioner-candidates\/&#8221;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;\/script&gt; &lt;script id=&#8221;parsely-cfg&#8221; src=&#8221;\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js&#8221;&gt;&lt;\/script&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Cecilia Lenzen, Fort Worth Report July 18, 2026 The candidates for Tarrant County Commissioners Court report about&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1114,150,116,118,117,122],"class_list":["post-377846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-lead","tag-arlington","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-tarrant-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}