An open letter from several Texas Republicans in what had been known as the largest red county in the nation demands new leadership at the helm of the county party after voters swept Democrats into office in last week’s midterm.

Democrats won all of the statewide races in Texas and all of the countywide races in Tarrant County, deserting its title of the largest red county in the nation. Fort Worth is the county seat of Tarrant County.

The letter says Tarrant County voters still believe in conservative policies but made it clear they were done with the Republican Party taking them for granted. Organized by former Southlake Mayor John Huffman, the letter was signed by 16 Republicans, most of whom have served as mayors, representatives, school board members and precinct chairs.

Other Republicans who believe in the sentiments are welcome to sign on too, Huffman said. Notably missing from the list are Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare and Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker. Neither responded to the Star-Telegram’s requests for comment.

By electing Democrats from top to bottom, voters said they were not pleased with the Republicans’ performance in office, commitment to kitchen table issues and divisive party culture.

“When a lifelong Republican does not feel welcome in their own party, because I fought for my school district, something’s wrong there,” said co-signer Chelsea Kelly, a member of the Keller school board. “Something’s wrong, and so our culture in the party has been diminishing and deteriorating over the last two years. And again, we have newer leadership, so you can put two and two together there.”

Kelly is one of two board members — both from Fort Worth — who spoke out against the proposed split in early 2025. Tim Davis, chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party, was the school board attorney at the center of the ordeal. He was elected chair of the county GOP in November 2025.

“That is kind of the linchpin of when things started to go sideways with the Republican Party as far as leadership and a culture of division,” Kelly said, “so I think understanding that background puts into perspective why leadership needs to change.”

Inside the county party, there is an understanding that if you step out of line with what leadership wants, you’ll be ostracized. That’s why there aren’t more Republicans signing onto the letter, Kelly said.

Davis did not respond to the Star-Telegram’s requests for comment.

James Baldwin, co-signer and chair of the Fort Worth parks and recreation advisory committee, called it a “badge of honor” if the far-right of his party is coming after him and labeling him a RINO (Republican in name only).

This day in Tarrant County has been a long time coming due to the divide in the county GOP, Baldwin said. But county leaders like Davis and O’Hare would rather claim Tarrant’s flip was due to voters’ dissent with President Donald Trump, he said.

“A lot of what happened, it’s not because of Donald Trump,” Baldwin said. “I couldn’t care less about what Donald Trump is saying or doing. I voted the way I did because I’m not voting for Ken Paxton. I’m not voting for Bo French. You know, I could go down the list.”

Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston professor of political science, told the Star-Telegram it’s too early to tell if Tarrant County has officially gone blue.

Because the nation as a whole swung left, it’s hard to parse if the Democrats’ success in Tarrant County was because of a disdain for Trump or because Tarrant County wanted a change in power locally, Rottinghaus said.

Baldwin said Davis’s leadership along with local Republicans’ governing is what allowed the blue wave inside Tarrant County lines.

The county has weathered several nationwide swings to the left while a Republican was in the White House because the voters were still confident in the conservative county leadership, Baldwin said. This election was different, he said.

“I think Tim Davis needs to learn the definition of two words: addition and subtraction,” Baldwin said. “When you add people to your party, you win. When you exclude people for not believing in everything that you personally say or do, or what Tim O’Hare says or does, and you exclude them and you subtract them, then you lose.”

Texas and Tarrant County are still right-of-center, Huffman said.

“We need to focus on nominating men and women of character, of high competence for the offices they seek, and folks who can articulate our conservative values in a way that voters believe will impact their lives for the positive,” Huffman said.

Huffman also ran in the November 2025 special election for Texas Senate District 9, but did not receive enough votes to go into the runoff election. Democrat Taylor Rehmet twice won the seat against Republican Leigh Wambsganss.

The Republican Party has a lot to offer, co-signer and precinct chair Bill Finstad said.

“You can look over the past few years, where the party in Tarrant County has been pushing harder and harder to the extreme right,” Finstad said. “It was my understanding when Tim Davis came in that his focus for this campaign season was going to be to try to go more centrist and appeal to the undecideds or the independents or the middle of the road.”

Most of the Democrats who won countywide races did so by a double-digit margin. O’Hare lost to Democratic challenger Alisa Simmons by 91,000 votes, 13 percentage points.

Finstad said he hopes the letter will force Tarrant County Republicans to think about their next steps as a party.

“We don’t need to be having a civil war, especially after last week,” he said.

©2026 The Kansas City Star. Visit at kansascity.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.