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Tarrant activists prepare for new political era under second Trump term

Residents gather at The Bearded Lady in Fort Worth’s Near Southside for an election night watch party on Nov. 5, 2024.
Camilo Diaz
/
Fort Worth Report
Residents gather at The Bearded Lady in Fort Worth’s Near Southside for an election night watch party on Nov. 5, 2024.

To Mamie Johnson, President Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Jan. 20 marks the opportunity for change both locally and across the country. She hopes that change looks like a shift to the right on the political spectrum, after what she describes as four years of the country leaning “too far left” under Democrat Joe Biden’s leadership.

“The majority of the country got tired of the push, push, push to the far left and woke up and said, ‘Nah, no more,’” Johnson said. “I believe the majority of the country said, ‘We’d rather give Trump another go at it.’ Even though some might not have agreed 100% but they could not, and were not willing to keep going in the direction that the country was going in.”

Johnson, president of the political organization Fort Worth Republican Women, feels certain that most of Tarrant County will welcome impending change following Trump’s inauguration.

More than half of Tarrant County voters supported Trump’s bid to reclaim the presidency after narrowly supporting Biden in the 2020 election. Farther down the ballot, Republicans won the majority of local races, solidifying conservative dominance in Tarrant County. As results trickled in the night of Nov. 5, Republicans across the county celebrated Tarrant’s return to red.

“I’ve got news for the Democrats of Tarrant County,” Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare said during an election night watch party. “Tarrant County is going red. We are going to be the strongest Republican county in the United States.”

Both O’Hare and Bo French, Tarrant County Republican Party chair, have been outspoken in recent months about their goal to capitalize on the conservative momentum seen across the country as Trump campaigned for reelection.

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French, who did not return a request for comment, previously said Tarrant needs “bold leadership” like Trump’s. Crystal Gayden, Tarrant County Democratic Party chair, also did not return a request for comment.

Fear over partisan divide ‘growing worse’ 

Victoria Ehlers, a member of Bans Off Our Bodies Fort Worth, said she expects to see conservative extremism continue to rise on the local level during Trump’s second term. She fears that more Republicans will feel empowered to emulate the divisive rhetoric Trump is known for, particularly against women, people of color and the LGBTQ community.

Bans Off Our Bodies, which held a Jan. 18 rally alongside the Tarrant County Democratic Party ahead of the inauguration, advocates for bodily autonomy and abortion rights across the country.

“When people see the divisiveness at the national political level, they’re less likely to want to compromise, even on a local level,” Ehlers said. “So you get that divide growing worse.”

Since his election as county judge in 2022, O’Hare has advocated to eradicate “diversity inclusion nonsense” from the county and led an unsuccessful push to reduce the number of polling locations on college campuses. That effort faced criticism from Democrats and Republicans concerned about its effect on voter turnout.

French, the Tarrant Republican Party chair, earned headlines this fall for his use on social media of slurs for gay people and people with disabilities. Both have been outspoken in their support for Trump.

Ehlers pointed to the possibility of future conflicts over political events in Fort Worth. Last summer, Fort Worth officials garnered scrutiny for allowing the prominent conservative group True Texas Project to host its 15th anniversary conference at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, overturning garden leadership’s decision to not allow the event.

The conference featured several conservative speakers discussing topics like “Multiculturalism & The War On White America,” “The Case For Christian Nationalism” and “Great Replacement Theory,” a conspiracy theory claiming there is a plot to diminish the influence of white people through immigration and lower birth rates among white populations than non-white populations.

“Unfortunately, some people don’t like what we do and our devotion to the core values, so they try to find ways to shut us down,” True Texas Project president Fran Rhodes previously told the Report. “They call us names, try to get us thrown out of venues, and stage protests. But we don’t back down. We’ve been doing this for 15 years and we’re not going away.”

The True Texas Project conference and the protests it sparked were “unfortunate and rare,” Ehlers said, but added that the way city officials handled the situation could set a precedent for future stir-ups. The conference and other controversies over event reservations ultimately led city officials to overturn a previous ban on events with discriminatory topics being allowed on city-owned property.

Barring major events such as the July conference, Ehlers said she expects to see more people emboldened to make extreme, inflammatory comments in “more and more public locations,” potentially endangering marginalized residents.

Where Ehlers sees division, True Texas Project CEO Julie McCarty sees the incoming administration as an opportunity for unity in her party. She said via email that Trump has done a “fantastic job” at uniting Republicans.

“He’s discredited the old establishment-type Republicans and brought new people into politics who weren’t satisfied with the old Republican party. All of that is fantastic,” McCarty said of Trump’s potential to impact political divides. “As for a divide with the left … they’re the ones that moved. They get more and more radical.”

Tarrant Republicans plan to get more conservatives elected

Johnson, the Fort Worth Republican Women leader, said she expects Trump’s return to office to inspire more Republicans to run for local office and lead conservative change in their own communities. She said Tarrant County needs more elected conservatives to prevent things like “madness with pornography” in school library books that she worries will have a negative impact on children. She hopes more Republicans realize their potential under Trump.

“I’ve seen that Trump has revived (and) inspired people who might have aspirations of higher positions in the future, realizing that they can get involved locally,” Johnson said.

McCarty said her organization also plans to help conservatives get elected. True Texas Project, previously known as the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party, has been involved in local elections for years and the group welcomes new faces joining them in “these battles for our kids and communities,” she said.

“Pretty much everyone dips their toe in the water at the federal level. Gradually they come to realize they have very little effect there, but we show them how they can make a world of difference at the state and local levels,” McCarty said via email. “Then they’re hooked. Politics is better than any sport!”

Getting more Republicans elected is something French, the Tarrant County Republican Party chair, has named as his top priority for the May election, when City Council and school board seats will be up for grabs. At a Jan. 6 rally with Attorney General Ken Paxton at the Tarrant County Republican Party headquarters, French repeated his goal to a crowd of cheering supporters: make Tarrant County “inhospitable” to Democrats.

Tarrant Democrats hope to see increased civic engagement 

Pamela Young, executive director of the grassroots organization United Fort Worth, said French’s goal spells harm for marginalized and historically oppressed communities in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. United Fort Worth has previously organized protests against police brutality and deaths in the Tarrant County Jail.

“Anyone who is touting that their goal is to make Tarrant County or Fort Worth inhospitable for anyone, that kind of tells you everything that you need to know about them and their agenda,” Young said. “That is definitely not the goal of people who love Fort Worth, people who love Tarrant County, people who love our neighbors here. That’s just unfathomable to have that kind of thinking about politics or anything here.”

Although disappointed with Trump’s election and nervous at what his administration will bring, Ehlers and Young both said they hope it motivates more people to become civically engaged, whether that means running for election or working on the grassroots level to protect communities in need.

“This is going to be a trying time for people who have been historically marginalized and oppressed in this nation,” Young said. “That’s how it’s always been, and that’s going to likely intensify during this time, but we’re fighting a lot of the same battles and injustices — they’re just more at the forefront now than they’ve ever been.”

Heading into the next four years, Young’s priority is keeping her community safe and fighting disinformation. Ehlers said she wants those who aren’t happy with Trump to keep hope and find ways to make their voices heard.

“You want to keep the hope for the future in your mind as much as you can, but also acknowledge that the next four years are not going to go the way we would have wanted them to go,” Ehlers said. “So (there’s) a lot of worry and uncertainty about what the future is actually going to bring.”

Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org or @bycecilialenzen

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.