Judge rules on Southlake candidate’s challenge of eligibility for Texas House race
For the second time in a week, a Tarrant County judge ruled that Zee Wilcox, a state House hopeful whose candidacy has been called into question, must remain on the Republican primary ballot.
Judge Ken Curry, presiding over the 96th District Court, granted a temporary injunction on Thursday, following an afternoon hearing where Wilcox and Tarrant County GOP Chairman Tim Davis took the stand to share their sides of the dispute over filing paperwork.
The decision follows Davis’ determination earlier this month that Wilcox, a candidate from Southlake for Texas House District 98, is ineligible for the Republican primary ballot.
After taking the arguments from both sides under consideration, Curry said he struggled to decide the best course of action, but ultimately concluded that Wilcox could remain on the ballot until further notice, as a more permanent resolution is considered in a North Texas appellate court.
Wilcox told the judge that the court’s intervention was needed to ensure her campaign isn’t further derailed. “Catastrophic” harm has already been done to her election bid, she said. She is competing against two other Republicans in the March primary, Keller Mayor Armin Mizani and Colleyville businessman Fred Tate.
“I don’t know if I can ever recover,” said Wilcox, who runs a health and beauty business.
Wilcox, representing herself in court, sued Davis on Jan. 9. She has argued that Texas election law was incorrectly followed and that her candidacy is valid. Wilcox has maintained that invalidating her candidacy is a result of political retaliation, while Davis has said the decision was “not the result of some vast conspiracy.”
“Do I have proof of it? Not hard proof, but common sense,” Wilcox said of her retaliation claim in an interview after the hearing.
Wilcox filed to run for office on Dec. 8. She was notified on Dec. 16, after the filing deadline, that a local precinct chair had challenged her application to run for the North Texas House district. She offered to fix any issues but didn’t hear back, Wilcox said.
In a Jan. 7 email to Wilcox, Davis said he was declaring her “ineligible for the Republican primary ballot.” He said in a Jan. 8 Facebook post that Wilcox had filed for a state office using a federal form. He declined to comment following the Thursday hearing.
A copy of the application provided to the Star-Telegram and available court records shows that Wilcox did turn in an application for federal office. She listed Texas House District 98 as the office sought, and the form was notarized and accepted.
Because a federal form was used, Wilcox did not provide a required statement acknowledging state nepotism law, attorneys for Davis said in a Jan. 14 court filing. They note that state law doesn’t allow Wilcox to amend the application after the filing period closes.
Attorney Tony McDonald, representing Davis as chair of the local Republican Party, told the judge that without that nepotism acknowledgement, her application was invalid and Davis, who is also an attorney by trade, was required to reject it.
“Our hands were tied,” McDonald said.
It’s the candidate’s duty to ensure the campaign filings comply with the law, McDonald said. Ultimately the error is on her, he argued.
“It would have been nice if the party caught it, but they didn’t,” he said.
When it was her turn to testify, Wilcox said she’d gotten notice of the candidacy challenge but assumed it was resolved when she was among the candidates included when the ballot order was drawn not long after.
“It came to me as a shock,” Wilcox said, when describing learning by email that Davis had upheld the challenge.
Wilcox said she’s not an expert in filing and running for office. She has run for the local school board before, Wilcox said under cross-examination.
She argued that a submitted campaign treasury form that included the nepotism acknowledgement was sufficient.
Davis testified that when he got the candidacy challenge, he reviewed relative law and researched the issue. He reached the conclusion that the challenge must be sustained and informed Wilcox in a timely fashion, Davis said.
Davis said he has no animosity towards Wilcox and no interest in affecting the outcome of the House race.
At one point, Wilcox asked Davis if he has Republican friends who don’t like her.
“I don’t know whether they like you or not,” Davis said.
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 5:16 PM.
