Tarrant County Judge

Tim O'Hare has been Tarrant County Judge since January 2023 and is seeking a second four-year term¹³. He is an attorney and real estate investor who served as mayor of Farmers Branch from 2008 to 2011². He holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the SMU School of Law².

Where they stand

• Property taxes: Keep cutting them and cap how fast they can rise Voted · high confidence
  • Voted with the 3-2 majority to adopt a county tax rate of 18.6 cents per $100 valuation for fiscal 2027, the fourth straight annual rate cut and below the no-new-revenue rate. (2026-09-15) source
  • Voted for a fiscal 2026 county tax rate of 18.62 cents per $100 valuation, which passed 3-1 on Sept. 22, 2025, after the two Democratic commissioners' absence blocked a vote the week before. (2025-09-22) source
  • Voted to raise the county and hospital district homestead exemptions from 10% to 20%, the maximum allowed by state law. (2024-06-18) source
  • Said the county tax rate is down 17 percent since he took office and that he would continue to fight for lower taxes. (2026-08) source
• Redistricting: State legislatures draw maps and may redraw any time, including for partisan advantage Voted · medium confidence
  • Voted with the 3-2 majority to adopt a new mid-decade commissioners court precinct map in June 2025. (2025-06-03) source
  • Initiated the mid-decade redistricting; he and the other two Republican commissioners said its aim was to increase the Republican majority on the court. (2025) source
  • Said the redistricting was not undemocratic because the three members voting for it were duly elected by their constituents. (2025-06-03) source
  • The county, with O'Hare as a defendant, argued in court that the redistricting had partisan rather than racial motives; both lawsuits against the map were dropped or dismissed. (2025-12) source
• Immigration: Secure the border first; deport those with criminal records; keep legal immigration steady Voted · low confidence
  • Voted to apply for a $140,000 state grant supporting the sheriff's 287(g) partnership with ICE, which screens the immigration status of people booked into the county jail. (2026-02-10) source
  • Said the program protects every community regardless of neighborhood or socioeconomic status. (2026-02-10) source
• Policing and crime: More police, with a focus on repeat offenders Voted · low confidence
  • Voted for the fiscal 2027 budget, which gives law enforcement 4% raises and about $19 million more for public safety than the year before. (2026-09-15) source
  • His campaign says he has prioritized law enforcement by securing pay raises for county officers. (2026) source
  • Describes his mission as making Tarrant County the safest large county in Texas. (2026) source
• Election rules: Strict photo ID, paper ballots, cleaner voter rolls and fewer mail ballots Official action · medium confidence
  • Created a county Election Integrity Task Force in 2023 with the district attorney and sheriff to help combat voter fraud. (2023) source
  • His campaign says he championed numbered paper ballots, improved ballot chain of custody, and ending internet-based transmission of results. (2026) source
  • In 2024 he sought to remove college and university campuses as early voting sites, saying it is not the county's job to make voting easier for specific groups such as students; the effort did not succeed. (2024) source
  • Joined a unanimous August 2026 vote to set aside an initial plan with 176 Election Day sites after commissioners agreed it had too few, then voted with the 3-2 majority for 224 Election Day and 47 early voting sites, 92 fewer Election Day sites than in 2022. (2026-09-01) source
  • Said no Tarrant County voter should ever feel they lack enough time to vote and called the revised site plan sensible. (2026-08) source

No public position found on: AI data centers, Judges, Death penalty.

Record

• Elected Tarrant County Judge in November 2022 after defeating Betsy Price in the Republican primary and Deborah Peoples in the general election; took office January 2023⁵.
• Served on the Farmers Branch City Council and as mayor of Farmers Branch from 2008 to 2011², and previously chaired the Tarrant County Republican Party¹.
• Won the March 3, 2026 Republican primary with 87.6% over Robert Trevor Buker and faces Democrat Alisa Simmons on November 3, 2026¹³.
• Led the June 2025 mid-decade redistricting of commissioners court precincts, adopted 3-2; the federal lawsuit challenging the map was withdrawn by the plaintiffs and a state lawsuit was dismissed in late 2025⁴¹³.
• The court under his leadership cut the county tax rate for four consecutive years, to 18.6 cents per $100 valuation for fiscal 2027⁶.
• In September 2025, after the two Democratic commissioners' absence blocked a tax rate vote, he proposed a budget amendment cutting their office staffs and travel budgets; the court reversed the amendment when the rate passed six days later¹⁸¹⁹.
• At an Aug. 4, 2026 commissioners court meeting on polling sites, he ordered the courtroom cleared after audience members clapped against his instructions, and deputies arrested former state Rep. Lon Burnam after Burnam refused to put down the microphone and leave¹⁷. Burnam's petition to remove O'Hare from office for official misconduct was dismissed on Sept. 21, 2026 by a district judge who wrote that it presented a dispute about the lawful scope of meeting control; O'Hare's campaign welcomed the ruling, and Burnam faces two misdemeanor charges from the meeting¹⁴.
• Did not respond to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram candidate questionnaire for the March 2026 primary¹⁵.