Fort Worth City Council candidate rejects endorsement from True Texas Project
The endorsement from the conservative True Texas Project took Fort Worth city council candidate Rick Herring by surprise.
The group, which began as the NE Tarrant Tea Part before re-branding in 2019, listed Herring as its preferred candidate for the newly created District 11 seat in Fort Worth’s May 6 election.
“I don’t know why anyone would endorse someone they haven’t spoken to,” Herring said, adding that he learned about the endorsement from a Star-Telegram article Tuesday that examined claims about his partisan leanings.
He said he emailed the group Tuesday morning to request he be taken off its list but hadn’t heard back. He was still listed on the group’s site as of 4:48 p.m. Tuesday.
The group has also endorsed Charles Lauersdorf in District 4, Italia De la Cruz in District 6, Jason Ellis in District 7 and incumbent Alan Blaylock in District 10.
Representatives for the True Texas Project did not respond to an email Tuesday requesting comment.
Herring said he is shocked by the amount of partisanship in Fort Worth’s 2023 election cycle. He said he has been civically engaged for more than 30-years.
The issues that Fort Worth’s City Council are supposed to address, whether it is the budget, safety, libraries or streets are nonpartisan, Herring said.
District 11, sometimes referred to as the horseshoe district, includes neighborhoods just east and northeast of downtown Fort Worth along with predominantly Hispanic south side neighborhoods of Rosemont and Hemphill Heights.
Herring is running against Tara Maldonado-Wilson, Jeanette Martinez, Ricardo Avitia, and Christopher Johnson.
Election day is May 6. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff June 10.
This story was originally published May 2, 2023 at 4:51 PM.
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