Tarrant County commissioners hear from constituents ahead of redistricting vote
Tarrant County commissioners heard opinions from dozens of constituents Tuesday over proposed precinct redistricting. They also heard a presentation outlining the applicable laws and showing the redistricting assessment the court went through in 2021.
On April 2, the county tapped Public Interest Legal Foundation to assist in the redistricting process. The law firm, based out of Alexandria, Virginia, specializes in election fraud. The non-profit subcontracted with Adam Kincaid from the National Republican Redistricting Trust, an organization that coordinates “the GOP’s 50-state redistricting effort.”
Five weeks later, a Public Interest Legal Foundations representative came to the county with five proposed redistricting maps. Voting trend data shows that all of the proposed maps would favor Republicans.
Each of the five options show the southern precincts 1 and 2 interlocked in U-shapes, with the northern precincts 3 and 4 relatively unchanged from the current map. The upside-down horseshoe resembles that from the 2024 voting trend map of Tarrant County.
Since the maps were proposed, Tarrant County has hosted three town halls in Precincts 1, 2 and 4 to hear the public’s feedback on the maps. Much of that feedback has been in favor of maintaining the current map. The last town hall meeting will be in Precinct 3 at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Gary Fickes Northeast Courthouse.
In the absence of a Public Interest Legal Foundation representative, Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons announced that she would be giving a presentation over redistricting. A member of her staff, Gabe Rivas, presented information about the legal boundaries surrounding redistricting and showed the findings of the 2021 redistricting research.
“Obviously, the county grew tremendously over those last 10 years in the 2010s, but the growth when you look at commissioners precincts, which are over a half million people, each one stays balanced,” Rivas said. “I was as surprised as everyone involved, but the total deviation was under 2% when these maps were re-approved in 2021 just three and a half years ago.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner Matt Krause asked Rivas to clarify that in recent years, the Supreme Court has said that political partisan gerrymandering is not unconstitutional, though racial gerrymandering is.
Of the 100 speakers who signed up for public comment on the topic, the majority did not come up to the microphone. Of those who did, two-thirds were opposed to redistricting.
Those opposed stated that this is racial gerrymandering, and called on Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez to flip his vote to oppose the redistricting. If the commissioners vote along party lines as they did to begin the redistricting process, one of the proposed maps will be adopted.
Ramirez wrote in an OpEd published Monday in the Star-Telegram that redistricting is necessary to keep Tarrant County Republican-led. He said this was one of his requests when he met with Public Interest Legal Foundation.
Gwenn Burud, executive director of Texans Defending Democracy, a nonprofit organization that provides non-partisan information on policy, called the redistricting a power grab.
“It’s like a child who flips a board game and suddenly declares new rules so they can’t lose,” Burud said. “The problem is, this isn’t a game. These are real people, and they’re voting rights that you’re trying to manipulate.”
Those who favor redistricting said they would prefer Map 1. Those speakers pointed to the need for conservative leadership on the commissioners court, which they said makes Tarrant County a destination for those moving to Texas.
Amie Super said she completely agreed with the opinions Ramirez shared in his OpEd.
“I don’t want to see Tarrant County turn into Dallas County or Harris County,” Super said. “Don’t Dallas County or Harris County my Tarrant County, for Pete’s sake. My favorite shared sentiment was something you closed with, that in a perfect world redistricting wouldn’t be partisan, but in the real world, it is political and necessary.”
The commissioners are set to vote on which map to adopt, if any, on June 3.
This story was originally published May 20, 2025 at 5:00 PM.