Two others are also vying to become the next Tarrant County Judge, challenging incumbent Tim O’Hare.<\/p>\n
TARRANT COUNTY, Texas \u2014 Tarrant County Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons Saturday announced she’s running for Tarrant County Judge, challenging incumbent Tim O’Hare.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Simmons has served on the commissioners court since 2022, and served as the Arlington NAACP President for more than 10 years before that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In announcing her campaign, Simmons touted her efforts to protect voting rights and push for reforms at the Tarrant County Jail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Extremists are attacking our voting rights, weakening public services, and hoping we\u2019ll stay quiet. We won\u2019t,” she wrote in a post on social media announcing her campaign<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Simmons and O’Hare have often clashed on the court on issues including taxes<\/a>, oversight of the\u00a0Tarrant County Jail<\/a> and, most recently, on the county’s newly-redrawn electoral map<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The commissioners approved the new map, which creates three districts with a Republican majority, in a 3-2 vote<\/a> in June.<\/p>\n Simmons and her fellow commissioner Roderick Miles had alleged the redistricting efforts were “dangerous” and “racially motivated.” The new map also drew legal challenges from residents similarly alleging racial gerrymandering, but those have been dropped or dismissed, as KERA reports<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n O’Hare has denied those allegations, and said in a post on social media that the commissioners followed the law in approving the new maps.<\/p>\n “We followed the law. And Tarrant County will be the better for it,” O’Hare wrote in the\u00a0post<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n