Republican election judge assaulted Democratic judge, Texas Democrats say

Maven Navarro, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on May 29, 2026

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FORT WORTH, Texas — A Tarrant County Democratic election judge says she was assaulted by a Republican election judge while working at her polling place for the primary runoff election Tuesday morning.

When the Democratic election judge, who has run her polling location for 15 years, arrived at the polls Tuesday morning, she found that a Republican election judge had removed the official seal from and opened the Democratic voting equipment, according to a news release from the Tarrant County Democratic Party.

The seal on the voting equipment is used to show it has not been tampered with after leaving the elections office. Because the Tarrant County Republican Party votes to hold separate primaries, Democratic and Republican election workers have different sets of election equipment.

According to the news release, when the Democratic election judge confronted the Republican judge to inform him he was wrong in his actions, he forcefully poked her in the neck and shoved her.

The Tarrant County Republican Party declined to comment on the situation.

The release from the Democratic Party did not identify the election judges, the polling location, or the municipality it is in.

Following the incident, the Tarrant County Democratic Party sent advocates to check on the Democratic judge, the release said. The advocate called the police, who took statements from all parties involved, but no charges have been filed.

“A day which was otherwise calm and marked by bi-partisan efforts to run a smooth primary runoff election was marred by an act of violence and unacceptable election equipment tampering,” said Allison Campolo, Tarrant County Democratic Party chair, in the news release.

The release from the Democratic Party said the party does not believe the Republican election judge’s actions represent all the Republican election judges in Tarrant County and called on voters, poll workers and elected officials to “promote an environment of peace and fairness.”

“We are fortunate enough to have a dedicated Tarrant County Elections Office that holds election workers to the highest standards, as well as a tri-partisan ballot board that carefully and digitally counts mail-in and provisional ballots,” Campolo said.