Tarrant County GOP chair will run in 2024 county commissioners race
Tarrant County GOP chair Rick Barnes will run to represent Precinct 3 on the county commissioners court in 2024, he confirmed to the Star-Telegram Tuesday morning.
Barnes, who works in insurance, began his tenure as chair of the local Republican party in 2019 after serving as the party’s treasurer for a year. He served as mayor pro tem on the Keller City Council from 2014 to 2017.
Precinct 3 represents 16 municipalities in Northeast Tarrant County, including Fort Worth, North Richland Hills, Southlake, Keller, Grapevine, Colleyville and Hurst. The commissioners slot has long been held by Gary Fickes, who began his time on the court in 2007 and will not be running for re-election.
Barnes told the Star-Telegram he was looking forward to continuing his service to the county.
The court flipped three of its five seats this past November as County Judge Glen Whitley and commissioners J.D. Johnson and Devan Allen made their way out of office.
Whitley was replaced by Southlake Republican Tim O’Hare. Manny Ramirez, a Republican who served as Fort Worth Police Officers Association’s president, replaced Johnson, the longtime Republican Precinct 4 representative. Arlington NAACP president Alisa Simmons, a Democrat, preceded Allen, who is also a Democrat.
Commissioner Roy Charles Brooks, who represents Precinct 1, will also be up for re-election in 2024.
