Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth, is the last red county in which a major metropolitan city resides. While U.S. representatives, a U.S. senator, and state representatives are up for reelection, one lesser-known race has been deemed pivotal in deciding the political direction the county is moving toward.

Up for reelection is Republican Sheriff Bill Waybourn, and Democrats believe if they can vote him out, they are on the right path to turning the red urban county blue. 

“Tarrant County is really the only thing that’s keeping the Republicans in the game,” Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX) told the Hill. “Once we start winning big in Tarrant County, then we win statewide.”

Waybourn’s challenger is Patrick Moses, who is campaigning heavily on the fact that under Waybourn’s watch, there have reportedly been more than 60 deaths at the Tarrant County Corrections Center, including a baby. 

Democrats hope Tarrant County goes a similar way as Dallas, Bexar, and Harris, all urban counties that shifted Democrat. The Democratic takeover of the sheriff’s seat has largely been a sign that the party was set to make even bigger gains in each respective county.

In 2004, former federal agent Lupe Valdez won the Dallas County sheriff’s race after decades of the office being held by Republicans. In the election cycles to follow, Democrats won more votes and elections, eventually leading to presidential candidate Mitt Romney losing the county by more than 100,000 votes in 2012 and former President Donald Trump losing by about 290,000 votes in 2020. 

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