Rep. Tinderholt: Favorable map ‘nudged' decision to run for Tarrant commissioner

Yahoo

3 days ago

Minutes after it was approved by county commissioners, the newly the configured Tarrant County Commissioner Precinct 2 had a Republican candidate: State Rep. Tony Tinderholt.
Tinderholt, an Arlington Republican serving his sixth term in the Texas House of Representatives, announced his retirement from the Texas Legislature on June 2, the final day of the latest legislative session. He told his House colleagues that he'd finish out his term, but wouldn't not seek reelection, in favor of staying closer to home with his family.
He didn't rule out running for another elected office in an interview with the Star-Telegram, and by the afternoon of June 3 he was a candidate for the newly reconfigured Precinct 2.
Tinderholt knew a few months back that he was retiring from the Texas Legislature, he said in a June 4 interview. He and his family began looking at places where he could serve locally, or at the prospect of retiring totally, he said.
'The opportunity presented itself for the county commissioner position, so we decided that we would — if the maps were drawn properly and the outcomes were what they are — then we would definitely announce to run,' Tinderholt said.
If the maps hadn't been redrawn, Tinderholt said he may have still sought the Precinct 2 seat.
'We were seriously considering running for the commissioner position, but the vote certainly nudged it a little bit,' Tinderholt said.
Tinderholt said he and his family were watching the June 3 commissioners court meeting. They were preparing a news release about his bid as the vote was happening, he said.
'Once the vote happened, I asked my family 'OK, do you guys want to move forward?' and the consensus was 'yes,'' Tinderholt said.
Tinderholt said he has not had conversations with commissioners about the proposed maps or his bid.
An address listed for Tinderholt in public election records falls within the precinct's current and newly proposed boundaries.
House District 94 sits in Tarrant County and includes parts of of Arlington, Bedford, Euless, Hurst, Fort Worth and all of Pantego and Dalworthington Gardens. The district and redrawn Precinct 2 overlap some, but the Commissioners Court seat doesn't go as far north and stretches farther west
Politically, the new boundaries are more favorable to Republican candidates than Democrats, a shift from the precinct's current leaning.
Cheryl Bean announced a bid for Tinderholt's house seat early Tuesday morning. She ran for House District 97 in the 2024 Republican primaries but moved to House District 94 in search of a home that's bigger and more centrally located to family members, she said.
Tinderholt has endorsed her for the House district. Bean said she and Tinderholt are aligned politically.
'I've always had a great deal of respect, and he's done a lot for this state, I think, in starting more of a conservative movement,' Bean said. 'We're both Christians. We're both, you know, just fiscally conservative, as well as social conservative.'
Tinderholt, who is among the most conservative members of the Texas House, said he hopes to help Tarrant County grow and wants to bring 'mutual respect and decorum' back to the precinct. He referenced a photo of Precinct 2 County Commissioner Alisa Simmons pointing her middle finger during the Tuesday meeting.
'We're going to campaign the same way we always have,' Tinderholt said. 'And we're going to reach out to voters. We're going to be knocking on doors, talking to the people that vote, and we will, we're not just going to knock on the doors people think we're going to knock on.'
Simmons commented on Tinderholt's bid in a June 3 text message to the Star-Telegram, writing:
'No one is surprised that Tony Tinderholt announced AFTER a new map was adopted. He was terrified of a race under the current lines. He knows, and Tim O'Hare knows, that he would lose badly. To give Tony a prayer, they had to shred Precinct 2 and illegally destroy the voting rights of its minority citizens. It's cowardly, it's racist, and it's sadly what we expect from Tim and Tony.'
Tinderholt didn't weigh in on concerns that the maps are racially gerrymandered.
'I'm not a current elected commissioner,' Tinderholt said. 'I wasn't involved in those. I'm not involved in them.'
One way to compare how far left or right a political district leans is to look at results from recent statewide elections.
Take the 2024 presidential race between President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.
Trump won House District 94 with 53.9% of votes to Harris' 44.3% in the November 2024 general election, according to the Texas Legislative Council, which assists the state with the redistricting process.
Trump lost Precinct 2 as currently drawn by 6.7 percentage points, with 45.8% of votes to Harris' 52.5%.
If that election had occurred under the newly adopted boundaries, Trump would have won with 52.4% of votes to Harris' 46.1%, according to an analysis on Tarrant County's website.
Here's how Trump and Harris would have fared in Precinct 2 in the 2024 presidential election under each of the seven proposed maps:
Current: Harris- 52.5%, Trump- 45.8%
Option 1: Trump- 54.8%, Harris- 43.8%
Option 2: Trump- 52.6%, Harris- 45.9%
Option 3: Trump- 51.6%, Harris- 46.8%
Option 4: Trump- 51.4%, Harris- 47%
Option 5: Trump- 52.2%, Harris- 46.2%
Option 6: Trump- 52.4%, Harris- 46%
Option 7: Trump- 52.4%, Harris- 46.1%
Staff Writer Rachel Royster contributed to this report.