Tarrant County commissioners face 2nd lawsuit over ‘discriminatory’ redistricting
Tarrant County and County Judge Tim O’Hare face a new legal challenge to the precinct redistricting approved in June.
A lawsuit was filed Thursday in Tarrant County District Court by the Texas Civil Rights Project on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County and a Fort Worth chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. The complaint argues the mid-decade redistricting illegally reduced the voting power of Black and Latino residents in the county.
Spokespeople for O’Hare and Tarrant County did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The new map alters the Democratic precincts 1 and 2 in southern Tarrant County. Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons of Arlington, who up for reelection in 2026, will now be in a Republican-leaning district.
Republicans including O’Hare advocated for redistricting because they said it was long overdue for the growing county, and they wanted to keep local government under GOP leadership. They denied the new map was racial gerrymandering.
Less than 24 hours after the vote, a federal lawsuit filed by five voters called the new precincts a racially discriminatory effort that “surgically moves minority voters” from one precinct to another.
New lawsuit says Tarrant map is unconstitutional
“I am deeply concerned and disappointed with the Tarrant County Commissioners Court vote to redistrict commissioner precincts,” said Alberto Govea, president of the LULAC council.
Highlighting that the county is still five years away from the usual time redistricting takes place — after the decennial census — Govea said that he sees the new map as a “scheme to disenfranchise minority voters,” depriving them of the ability to elect someone who understands their needs.
“This, I fear, will lead to the communities of color losing services that are needed,” he said in a press release Thursday by the Texas Civil Rights Project.
The press release called the means by which the redistricting was achieved a “secretive rushed process” that violated the Texas Open Meetings Act, and was “done with racially discriminatory purpose in violation of the Texas Constitution.”
Redistricting process took only 2 months
The prospect of redistricting was first discussed publicly at a commissioners court meeting in early April. The new maps were approved by a split vote about two months later, after a series of public forums around the county.
The lawsuit also accuses O’Hare and the commissioners who voted for the redistricting plan of violating the Texas Constitution “by failing to consider the convenience of the people in redistricting.”
The commissioners court voted along party lines to approve the new map, with Republicans O’Hare, Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez voting for it and Democrats Roderick Miles and Alisa Simmons voting against.
The new map also violates state anti-discrimination laws “by burdening the right to vote of Black and Latino voters,” the press release states.
Janet Mattern, president of the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County, said that the redistricting dilutes minority voter’s electoral power “over the objections of the community.”
She highlighted Tarrant County’s status as a majority-minority county. White residents represent just under 43% of the population in Tarrant County, according to 2020 census data.
Around two thirds of residents who spoke during public comments ahead of the June 3 vote on the redistricting expressed opposition to the map.
“This is illegal and is something the League will not stand for,” Mattern said. “Instead of maintaining the two majority-community-of-color precincts, the commissioners drew only one, discriminating against Black and Latino residents and limiting their ability to elect candidates of their choice.”
Nina Oishi, a voting rights attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project, said Tarrant County is one of the fastest growing and most diverse counties in the state and that precincts should be based on that reality.
“Redistricting should reflect the people, not silence them,” she said.
The first lawsuit against the redistricting was filed by a group of Tarrant County voters the day after the new map was approved. Earlier this month, lawyers for O’Hare and the county filed a motion to dismiss that lawsuit, claiming the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that the changes to the precincts were racially motivated.
