{"id":81153,"date":"2025-12-09T01:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T01:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/81153\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T01:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T01:57:09","slug":"former-fort-worth-councilman-jared-williams-announces-bid-for-tarrant-county-commissioner-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/81153\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Fort Worth councilman Jared Williams announces bid for Tarrant County commissioner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Fort Worth City Council member Jared Williams<\/a> is running for a seat on the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, he announced Monday.<\/p>\n

The Democrat and nonprofit leader is seeking the Precinct 2 seat currently represented by Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who announced Saturday her campaign<\/a> for the countywide position of judge.<\/p>\n

He faces Democrat Gabe Rivas<\/a>, a former member of Simmons\u2019 staff, in the March primary. Republicans Tony Tinderholt<\/a>, who represented the Arlington area in the Texas House for six terms, and Lucila Seri, a Tarrant County GOP precinct chair, are also seeking the seat.<\/p>\n

Williams served two terms on City Council, representing southwest Fort Worth and the historically Black neighborhood of Como. He works for the Tarrant Area Food Bank as vice president of government and external relations.<\/p>\n

His campaign will focus on \u201crestoring affordability, strengthening essential services and ensuring our government works for everyday people,\u201d Williams said in a news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, those in power have claimed Texas is the greatest place to live, work and play, while ignoring the reality for everyday people like us,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWe\u2019re working harder for less, being priced out of our homes, squeezed by rising costs and too exhausted to enjoy the life we\u2019re trying to build.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next year\u2019s election will be shaped by new precincts adopted by the GOP-majority commissioners court<\/a> earlier this year. County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare and Commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez redrew precinct lines to make Precinct 2 more favorable to conservative candidates<\/a>, which they said was intended to increase Republican representation in the court.<\/p>\n

Tinderholt, known as one of the Legislature\u2019s most conservative members<\/a>, announced his candidacy for Simmons\u2019 seat moments after the new map was adopted in June.<\/p>\n

Two lawsuits that accused county officials of racial gerrymandering and sought to bar the new map from being used were both dropped or dismissed<\/a> this month.<\/p>\n

Under the new boundaries, Precinct 2 encompasses Arlington, Mansfield, Pantego, Dalworthington Gardens, Kennedale, Burleson, Crowley, Benbrook, Edgecliff Village and part of south Fort Worth.<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 campaign announcement noted his vote in favor of a Fort Worth City Council resolution to oppose the county\u2019s \u201cundemocratic\u201d redistricting<\/a> effort. It highlighted the council\u2019s 2022 redistricting process \u2014 described by Williams as \u201cone of Texas\u2019 most transparent, community-driven redistricting processes\u201d \u2014 that resulted in the creation of two new council districts intended to increase Hispanic representation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Williams enters the Precinct 2 race late in the game \u2014 on the same day as the filing deadline \u2014 with Simmons\u2019 endorsement. His campaign announcement touted endorsements from Tarrant Democrats at the city, county and state level, including former County Commissioner Roy Brooks; County Commissioner Roderick Miles; State Reps. Nicole Collier and Ramon Romero; Deborah Peoples, Fort Worth City Council member and former chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party; Mansfield Mayor Michael Evans; Forest Hill Mayor Stephanie Boardingham; and County Constables Sandra Lee and Michael Campbell.<\/p>\n

Williams was elected to the council in 2021, defeating 16-year incumbent Jungus Jordan and becoming the first Black person to represent District 6.<\/p>\n

In January, he announced that he would not seek reelection<\/a> to the council after previously planning to do so. At the time, he cited a desire to spend more time with family and to continue his work to end hunger and lead his faith ministry.<\/p>\n

His campaign announcement emphasized his \u201cproven record of delivering for working people.\u201d He highlighted doubling the city\u2019s homestead exemption and opposing new taxes on working families; championing the effort to increase Fort Worth\u2019s minimum wage from $10 to $18 per hour<\/a>; advocating for accountability and improvement in the Tarrant County Jail; and hosting more than 100 neighborhood meetings, increasing public participation in government.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal government should help make life better, not sit on the sidelines watching us suffer,\u201d Williams said in the news release. \u201cAn effective Commissioners Court can be part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivas and Williams will face off in the March 3 primary election to win the Democratic nomination for the seat, while Tinderholt and Seri will face off for the Republican nomination. The winners will face off in the general election Nov. 3. A full roundup of Tarrant County candidates for the primary election is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> first appeared on Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Fort Worth City Council member Jared Williams is running for a seat on the Tarrant County Commissioners…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-81153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arlington","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-arlington-headlines","10":"tag-arlington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81153","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=81153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}