Campaign website: Under construction, trouble with vendor<\/p>\n
Social media: X(Twitter): @TomWilder1995\u00a0 Facebook: Tom.Wilder.378<\/p>\n
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Early voting for the November elections is Oct. 19-30. Election Day is Nov. 3. To check your voter registration, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n To find out where you can vote, or who will be on your ballot, click here<\/a>. For information on the races across the county, check out our Election Central<\/a> page or our nonpartisan voter guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Education: University of Dallas 1961-1963; University of North Texas 1964-1965; 863 hours of continuing education specifically designed for District Clerk and required by law – University of Texas School of Law, V.G. Young Institute (Texas A&M), Texas District Court Alliance<\/p>\n Occupation and workplace: Tarrant County District Clerk 1995 to present. Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building, 100 N. Calhoun, Fort Worth 76196<\/p>\n Previous elected office(s) sought or held: Tarrant County Commissioner Precinct 3 – 1984; Lost by .45%<\/p>\n How long have you lived in Texas and in your district? What are your qualifications to serve in this office?\u00a0 What are your top three priorities, if elected? Briefly describe how you would approach each. Renovate Justice Center: Decrease Turnover of County Employees: What is the single biggest issue your constituents face? How would you address it? Why are you seeking this office? Who are your top five campaign donors? Have you ever filed for bankruptcy? If so, when?\u00a0 Have you ever been convicted of a crime, in Texas or another state? If so, what crime and when? What are your budget priorities, and why?\u00a0 What do you see as the county\u2019s role in managing infrastructure, such as streets and water quality, across the county amid rapid growth? With a reduction of public meetings, some residents are concerned about opportunities to engage with their elected officials. How do you plan to engage with constituents? How would you approach bipartisan collaboration on the Commissioners Court? How would you address concerns about deaths in the Tarrant County jail? This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/10\/04\/tom-wilder-republican-nominee-for-tarrant-county-district-clerk\/”>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&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=799265&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/10\/04\/tom-wilder-republican-nominee-for-tarrant-county-district-clerk\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js”><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by The FWR Staff, Fort Worth Report October 4, 2026 Candidate name: Tom Wilder Age: 82 (Doctor “Fit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-457409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457409","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=457409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
All my life except 3 months; in district since 1972.<\/p>\n
30 years of business experience (22 years-The Wilder Company Commercial Real Estate). 32 years as the District Clerk (see education above). Extensive experience in Government; Board of Directors- Texas District Court Alliance, Formerly Tarrant County Convention Center Board, Tarrant County Bar Association Pro Bono Committee (current), Real Estate Center (A&M) 1987-1994 Appointed by governor by Board of Directors.<\/p>\n
Complete replacement of Court Case Management System (JIMS):
Criminal Section finished 3 years ago. Approach: Civil, Family, Juvenile and Accounting began 6\/2025 funded by District Clerk 216 Fund (Not General Fund money). The remainder was funded 7\/14\/26 again from the 216 Fund (Not General Fund money) and approved by Commissioners Court. Completion of project expected in early 2028. It will improve efficiency and security.<\/p>\n
Approved by Commissioners Court 7\/14\/26. District Clerk will move deputies from floors 5, 6, 7, and 8 to the 3rd floor reducing floor space occupied to less than total currently occupied. The change will create better communication and management oversight and strengthen security. DC has three other offices on one floor that has resulted in all of the above listed benefits to taxpayers and operational efficiency.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pay scale will have to be raised. County employees have been in bottom 1\/3rd of local market according to multiple surveys by nationally known company Korn Ferry. While Commissioners have tried hard to get wages up, especially in TSCO, where there was some success, others of us have deputies that are underpaid and who leave for law firms and other offices. Thankfully, pensions are funded, but tight job market doesn’t help turnover. Approach: Continue to suggest ways to increase pay without raising taxes as was done again this year.<\/p>\n
Unfunded mandates from legislature and Supreme Court. I will be working on this if re-elected with our County Legislative Director (first draft of list delivered to him already).<\/p>\n
Continue to use technology and motivated employees to enhance cost-efficient operation of one of the oldest offices in government (13th Century).<\/p>\n
1. Kelly Hart Law Firm PAC
2. Mary Ann Auld – Managing partner, KHH
3. Dee Kelly Jr. – Attorney \/ Partner
4. Jimmy Pollozani – Former police officer and restaurant owner
5. Linebarger Law Firm<\/p>\n
No.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
See above in Top 3 Priorities question.<\/p>\n
See above, No ability to input on streets, water, etc. – Cities do most of this.<\/p>\n
While I and my deputies can’t give legal advice, we use emails (dclerk@tarrantcounty.com), phones and mail exclusively, plus Facebook (see above).<\/p>\n
I have no ability to do that although I discussed my JIMS replacement effort with one democrat Commissioner who voted for it on 7\/14\/26.<\/p>\n
Every inmate is offered medical exam by JPS, not all will allow it. Many arrests come into jail drunk, on drugs of various kinds, injured and with many chronic diseases. As the Clerk of the Magistrate Courts, my deputies see much of this. Sheriff does his best under very difficult circumstances. Our jail was certified by State Jail Standard Commission again this year.<\/p>\n