Election News

Tarrant County sees amazing turnout for 2020 presidential election

Most of the voting done in Tarrant County was early.

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UPDATE: According to Tarrant County Elections' final results, released November 11, Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden bested President Donald Trump by 1,826 votes, with Biden's tally at 411,567 votes versus Trump's 409,741 votes. It's the first time Tarrant County has gone "blue" for president since 1964.

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In the 2020 presidential election on November 3, Texas didn't "turn blue," as some polls predicted — but in Tarrant County, they came pretty close.

President Donald Trump won the state of Texas, garnering 52.2 percent, or 5,687,882 votes, to Joe Biden's 46.6 percent, or 5,023,291 votes, with 93 percent of the votes counted.

But in Tarrant County, Trump beat Biden by a much slimmer margin, besting Biden by only about 2,200 votes, with 399,342 for Trump versus 397,174 for Biden, according to the Tarrant County election website.

Most of the voting done in Tarrant County was early, with a mere 100,000 or so voters waiting until Election Day to vote.

The final results of the presidential election won't be resolved until November 4 at the earliest, since ballots are still being counted in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, and Wisconsin.

In other Texas contests, Republican Sen. John Cornyn won, defeating Democratic challenger MJ Hegar, for his fourth term in office.

Democratic Rep. Colin Allred won his District 32 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, beating challenger Genevieve Collins.

For Railroad Commissioner, a powerful position that oversees oil and gas, Republican Jim Wright had a healthy lead against Democrat Chrysta Castaneda.

Tarrant County experienced issues with its mail-in ballots, whose bar codes were unreadable. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick went on a radio show and criticized Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley for the issue, but Whitley told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Patrick "needs to keep his nose and business down at the state and let the local people take care of the local [government]."

"The lieutenant governor blaming the county is a very good indication that he doesn't understand how the process goes," Whitley said.

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Politics News

Fort Worth on track to hire first Hispanic city manager Jay Chapa

Courtesy photo

Jay Chapa

The City of Fort Worth is poised to hire a new city manager: Jesus “Jay” Chapa, who boasts extensive experience in local government, is set to become the new city manager pending approval by the City Council on Tuesday, December 10.

According to a release, Chapa is the lone finalist for the job. If confirmed, he'll make history as Fort Worth’s first Hispanic city manager.

Current City Manager David Cooke announced in his retirement in July. He'll leave his post in February 2025.

More than 150 candidates from across the country applied; of those, 14 candidates were presented to the City Council. Five semifinalists were interviewed by the council before it was narrowed down to Chapa as a finalist.

Chapa served as deputy city manager of Fort Worth from 2020-2022 and has more than 20 years of experience in city management and economic development, including roles as assistant city manager, director of housing and economic development, director of economic and community development, and working with Fort Worth Police Department leadership.

He also led significant projects such as the completion and opening of Dickies Arena, the development of Renaissance Square, and the growth of the Near Southside.

In February 2022, Chapa started a consulting company to provide strategic advice to local governments, public agencies, and businesses.

“Jay is a man of brilliant creative thinking, has led most of the public-private partnership efforts in the city over the past 10 years, and has an unmatched ability to hit the ground running,” says Mayor Mattie Parker in a statement. “His proven financial stewardship has and will continue to set the nation’s 12th largest city up for success far into the future. Jay is one of the most qualified city managers in the country — and we are the lucky ones because Jay already calls Fort Worth home.”

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