County redistricting sparks legal concerns for Southeast Tarrant mayors
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross is taking the lead for some Southeast Tarrant County cities that are questioning the legality of the county’s mid-decade redistricting.
He announced at a City Council work session Tuesday that he has asked the city attorney’s office to make sure the redistricting is abiding by the laws.
On April 2, Tarrant County tapped Public Interest Legal Foundation to help redraw the commissioner’s precinct lines. The county is represented by four precinct commissioners and one county judge, who serves Tarrant County as a whole.
About a month later, the law firm presented five maps to the commissioners. Each one was drawn by Adam Kincaid, executive director and president of National Republican Redistricting Trust, an organization that coordinates “the GOP’s 50-state redistricting effort.” Voting trend data shows that all of the proposed maps would favor Republicans. The court is made up of two Democrats and three Republicans.
Typically, redistricting can take between six months and a year, but Tarrant County plans to vote on a new map on June 3, two months since the process began.
The five maps show Precinct 1 and 2 interlocked in U-shapes with Precincts 3 and 4 relatively unbothered across the northern part of the county. Mansfield Mayor Michael Evans said that raises suspicions.
“This has the stench of gerrymandering,” Evans said. “And the problem with that is, is that, really, it foments division. It foments geographic separation. And pardon my passion, but all it does is it just stokes the flame of political disagreements.”
Evans is one of the mayors questioning the legality of the redistricting with Ross. Cities Ross said he had also spoken with Fort Worth, Haltom City, Kennedale and Dalworthington Gardens. None of the four cities immediately responded to the Star-Telegram’s request for comment.
Each of the maps splits Arlington into three precincts, when as of now it is represented in full by Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons, a Democrat.
Ross said it would be problematic to have three commissioners representing Arlington at the county level rather than the one. He is concerned that Arlington voices would get lost because they would no longer make up a large part of any one precinct, as it has since 2011 when the county last redistricted.
In his four years as mayor and his broader tenure of involvement in Arlington, Ross said he is not aware of another time when a handful of cities felt the need to check up on the legality of their county’s actions.
“But here’s the thing,” Ross said. “The redistricting attempts have been done without ever coming to the affected cities and saying, ‘Here’s what we’re thinking about doing’ and having us weigh in on that.”
Evans said as a mayor, he wants to see the different entities coming together to spur on the forward movement of the county.
“I would have believed that the recent election results would show our county leadership that people are tired of these overt partisan clashes,” Evans said. “So I stand with my fellow mayors and their disappointment in the fact that we are here … and my question is ‘Why?’”
In the May 3 local elections, which are typically nonpartisan races, several candidates firmly backed by right-leaning groups lost.
Ross said that when he receives the preliminary findings from the Arlington city attorney’s office and legal consultant, he will discuss next steps with the other cities’ mayors.
“If the report comes back and says everything’s above board and it’s fine, I’ll propose we do nothing about it,” Ross said at the work session Tuesday. “But if the report comes back and says there’s legal and/or ethical issues, regarding the attempt to redistrict mid-census, then I would propose a resolution opposing the redistricting from the city of Arlington.”
This story was originally published May 16, 2025 at 1:44 PM.