Editor’s note: This story was updated at 11 p.m. May 26 with available results. It will be updated again once all votes are tallied.
Jared Williams took a strong lead over Amanda Arizola in Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff, securing the party’s nomination for the Tarrant County Commissioners Court Precinct 2 seat, according to unofficial results as of 11 p.m. Tuesday.
Williams took about 60% of the vote, according to Tarrant County. He will face Republican Rep. Tony Tinderholt in November for the seat representing a large portion of south Tarrant County.
The partisan runoffs were triggered after the March 3 Democratic primary when no candidate got over 50% of the vote in races that had more than two candidates. Other races on the ballot include the U.S. and Texas House seats.
Tuesday’s results saw Williams pull ahead after March’s election, which saw Arizola, co-founder of the nonprofit CoACT North Texas, lead with 43.9% of the vote. Williams, who last year stepped down from the Fort Worth City Council after four years of representing the southwest part of the city and the historically Black neighborhood of Como, gathered 36.4% in the March election. Gabe Rivas trailed in the Democratic primary with just under 20%.
The Precinct 2 seat has swung Democratic since 2018. Democrats want to keep it that way after a Republican-led mid-cycle redrawing of commissioner precincts.
Last summer, Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare told reporters the move was to make Precinct 2 more favorable to the GOP.
Current Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons, a Democrat, is challenging O’Hare for county judge. Also in November, Democrat Nydia Cardenas will face Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez in trying to flip northwest Tarrant’s Precinct 4 seat. The five-member court currently holds three Republicans and two Democrats.
Texas House District 97
In the Democratic race for Texas House District 97, which covers southwest Tarrant County, Beth Llewellyn McLaughlin, an activist and retired teacher, led Tuesday night with 56% of the vote, according to unofficial results. She faced Diane Symons, a photographer and activist, for the Democratic nomination.
McLaughlin faces Republican incumbent state Rep. John McQueeney in November.
The seat has reliably gone red since 1988, aside from a brief special election in 2007.
U.S. House District 24
For the northeast U.S. House seat, cybersecurity manager Kevin Burge took 76% of the vote, according to unofficial results at the time of publishing. He faces entrepreneur TJ Ware.
The district stretches across Dallas-Fort Worth into Carrollton and has voted Republican since 2005. Burge will face Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne.
Statewide races
In the statewide race for the lieutenant governor nomination, Vikki Goodwin took a strong lead against Marcos Velez, winning 67% of the vote, according to the secretary of state.
In the race for the attorney general nomination, Nathan Johnson led Joe Jaworski with 59% of the unofficial vote Tuesday night.
Drew Shaw is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601.
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