The largest urban county in which Republicans held a stronghold flipped Tuesday night in what Democrats are hailing as a “blue wave.”
Voters in Tarrant County resoundingly threw their support behind Democrats James Talarico, Gina Hinojosa and Alisa Simmons, according to the AP and county voting returns.
The county, which hasn’t elected a Democrat to the county judge seat in nearly 40 years, voted to unseat Republicans up and down the ballot.
Denton and Collin counties, traditionally Republican strongholds, have also seen unusual gains for Democrats.
North Texas is an enormously important region of the state for candidates’ hopes of statewide victory.
In the 2024 presidential election, nearly 1 in 4 Texas votes came from Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties. Suburban areas were a Republican stronghold for decades before 2016 but saw election results trending more blue since 2016.
Political experts have said in recent years that Tarrant County was more purple than it was red as voters narrowly supported Democratic candidates at the top of the ballot during the 2018 midterms and 2020 presidential election before supporting Trump’s 2024 reelection.
For a long time, Republicans felt confident in their majority votes and leadership for Tarrant County. With advantages like a 3-2 majority on the commissioners court, there were hopes of growing to 4-1 following last year’s mid-decade redistricting that heavily redrew the two precincts controlled by Democrats.
Talarico, the state’s first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in decades, beat outgoing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — who until this Senate bid hadn’t lost a bid for office since he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2002.
But this election cycle showed the Republicans hold on the county may not have been as strong previously thought.
On Tuesday night, Talarico beat Ken Paxton by 12 points in the county with over 95% of the votes in late Tuesday night. Gina Hinojosa got five more points than Greg Abbott in the Governor’s race. And Nathan Johnson got six points over Mayes Middleton in the Attorney General race.
In Denton County, which has historically favored the GOP, voters shifted toward Democratic candidates at the state level but candidates from the left didn’t perform as strongly as those higher on the ballot.
Denton County voters cast ballots for Talarico and Hinojosa over traditional powers.
But the GOP seems to have held strong in races for representative in the U.S. House and Texas House of Representatives — with incumbents like Rep. Brandon Gill and Rep. Richard Hayes taking early leads across the board.
The Associated Press called the election in favor of both Talarico and Hinojosa.
The most surprising shift, though, has been in Tarrant County.
Simmons unseated Tim O’Hare, the Republican county judge whose tenure has been marred by controversy over the way he conducts himself from the dais. She declared victory before 9 p.m. and now-outgoing County Judge O’Hare conceded shortly after.
Tarrant County was the largest urban Republican bastion before this election. That stronghold showed signs of slipping from the GOP’s grasp in 2024, when President Donald Trump won the county with around 51% of the vote. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz won the county but didn’t make it past 50% in that same election.
When Tarrant County’s Texas Senate seat flipped blue during a special election runoff in January, local Democrats hailed the victory as a first sign of a “blue wave.”
Since Taylor Rehmet’s victory, Republican leaders and elected officials called the loss motivation to maintain dominance and keeping Tarrant County red, while Democrats only saw this as a drive for more blue victories.
When early voting returns came in Tuesday night, they suggested that hold over the county was gone.
Talarico secured just less than 60% of the early vote, according to unofficial results published by the county. Hinojosa saw support from almost 58% of voters and Simmons led incumbent Republican Tim O’Hare with 57% in the race for county judge.
Simmons declared victory before 9 p.m. Tuesday.
“It says that people want change, that they are tired, they are paying attention,” she said. “For them to come out and vote in these local elections, down ballot, tells me a lot, and that’s that they want change.”
O’Hare did not respond to KERA requests for interview Tuesday night.
Simmons said that on day one in office she will focus on “restoring people’s right to speak, to address us longer than one minute.”
“I’m excited for the people of Tarrant County,” she told KERA News after O’Hare’s concession. “It’s about being able to serve the folks of Tarrant County and to be able to focus on serving instead of having to spar.”
Simmons said O’Hare told her he and his staff are open to meeting with Simmons and her staff to discuss transition of power.
Simmons said the county will go back to meetings at least twice a month and she’ll look at the budget, saying that under O’Hare’s leadership the court cut taxes beyond what the county needs to operate.
The last Democrat to serve as Tarrant County judge was Mike Moncrief, who left that post in 1986.
Simmons said her victory isn’t the only to celebrate. She’s “ecstatic” about the way statewide races turned out too, calling it “just amazing for this country, amazing for the state.”
“Like I always preach to my constituents: pay attention to what’s happening in government, and that’s what they have done today,” Simmons said.
Reporters Penelope Rivera, Lillie Davidson, Dylan Duke and the Denton Record-Chronicle contributed to this report.
James Hartley is the Tarrant County producer and breaking news reporter for KERA News. Got a tip? Email James Hartley at jhartley@kera.org. You can follow James on X @ByJamesHartley.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
Copyright 2026 KERA News