In ‘largest red county’ in U.S., Tarrant Democrats struggle with cash, candidates | Opinion
For once, some Democrats are being careful with money.
So naturally, that comes as a shock.
The low-profile Tarrant County Democratic Party made headlines the other day. The party laid off all three employees from its already-thin staff, on the heels of an embarrassing national election performance.
Local Republicans celebrated. County party Chairman Bo French called it another step toward his goal: “completely routing Democrats from Tarrant County.”
But I’d say the big surprise was that the Tarrant County Democrats even had three employees.
The local Democratic Party never has much money. After the fervor of a national election, the local office always runs on fumes.
Yes, the party here is in bad shape.
It’s just not in any worse shape than back when Gov. George W. Bush carried the county by 70%, or when U.S. Sen. John Cornyn carried it by 60%, or when Democrats went 16 years (!) without even fielding a candidate for county judge.
Democrats think D.C., Republicans think local
See, Democrats are not like Republicans.
Democrats focus on Washington and save their time, energy and pennies for the next November federal election.
Meanwhile, Republicans focus on winning City Hall, the courthouse and the Texas Capitol.
Right now, the GOP is busy backing candidates in city and school elections May 3.
Local Democrats’ county chair is Fort Worth lawyer Crystal Gayden. She says the layoffs are cyclical.
“We are where we’ve always been” after a presidential election, she said.
Democrats’ losses in 2024 were “devastating,” she said.
“After that, nobody wanted to support the national or local party,” she said.
Tarrant Democrats ‘are not broke’
Tarrant Democrats received grant money to hire extra staff for the general election, she said. Volunteers now run the office, which is in an industrial building in the remote south Tarrant County suburb of Edgecliff Village.
“We are not broke,” Gayden said. “This is no different from where we’ve been for the last 30 years.”
But it was a shock to local Democratic author and blogger Michelle H. Davis, who wrote March 27 on her Lone Star Left page:
“The county where I live is a perfect example of why the Texas Democratic Party is such bad shape. ... The largest red county in America doesn’t have a functioning Democratic Party for the next elections.”
I’d say all of Texas doesn’t have a functioning Democratic Party.
But that’s partly because of the current loggerheads struggle between traditional Democratic leadership and progressives demanding more brawlers.
Democrats’ lagging spirits were raised last week by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s 25-hour speech and by a key election victory on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. But sometimes, it seems like every Democrat is a separate political faction.
Local Democrats are just beginning to punch their way out of a hole. They got a lift when Senate challenger Beto O’Rourke carried Tarrant County in 2018, followed by President Joe Biden in 2020 and Senate challenger Colin Allred in 2024.
But no local Democrat has won a countywide race in 31 years.
GOP leads in Tarrant, 54%-46%
Based on last fall’s election results, Tarrant County is still 54%-46% Republican.
Former county chair Dr. Allison Campolo, a Euless Democrat, generally agreed with Gayden that the party’s money gets tight after every election.
The party is on track, she wrote to a Star-Telegram reporter, and should focus on “candidate recruitment and fighting yet another politically motivated gerrymandering attempt at the Commissioners Court.” (Republican commissioners plan a remap that would potentially restore a 4-1 GOP court, eliminating Commissioner Alisa Simmons, an Arlington Democrat.)
Gayden described the party’s top goal as “rebuilding confidence locally.”
The party will hire a staff again in the fall, she said, when 2026 election filing and paperwork begins.
For now, her goal is recruiting “real candidates” for the 2026 election.
This party is definitely BYOB.
Bring your own bucks.
This story was originally published April 3, 2025 at 1:44 PM.
