Democratic Party gaining ground slowly in Tarrant County

Republican dominance in Tarrant County endures, but some see evidence in election night Democratic victories that the opposition is gaining ground.

Tuesday’s election saw two significant Democratic wins. Wendy Davis, a former Fort Worth city councilwoman, defeated Republican incumbent Kim Brimer by almost 7,000 votes, or 2.6 percent, to capture the District 10 Texas Senate seat.

And Chris Turner won a Texas House of Representatives seat formerly held by a Republican — winning 51 percent to 47 percent over incumbent Bill Zedler in District 96.

Libertarian Todd Litteken garnered 2 percent of the vote.

But in a battle for the District 97 Texas House seat, Republican challenger Mark Shelton turned back incumbent Democrat Dan Barrett, with 55 percent of the vote to 43 percent. Libertarian Rodney Wingo received 2 percent of the vote.

Overall, the county still saw nearly 55 percent of straight-party votes go Republican on Tuesday, compared with about 45 percent for Democrats. But more than 40,000 additional voters cast straight-party Democrat ballots than in 2004, when President Bush defeated Sen. John Kerry.

In the presidential election, about 56 percent of Tarrant voters cast ballots for John McCain, to 44 percent for Barack Obama.

But in 2004, Bush got 62 percent to Kerry’s 37 percent.

Political observers offered varying reasons for the Democratic Party’s two victories in Tarrant, a GOP stalwart. Some saw the results as a repudiation of an unpopular president. Others said two Republican losses don’t amount to a shift in the county’s political winds for now.

"Tarrant County is going to continue Republican for some years before it becomes closely contested," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "There will be pockets in Tarrant County that will send Democrats to the Legislature, and they will continue.

"But Texas is on its way to becoming two-party competitive in the next decade ... unless something extraordinary happens," he said. "Democrats are on a slow upward arc, and it will be hard to change that arc."

Jim Riddlesperger, a political science professor at Texas Christian University, said he saw little change Tuesday in Tarrant County.

"In the three close elections, Democrats won two of the three," he said. "They lost one they already held. Maybe there’s slight movement toward the Democrats. But the larger point is really the politics of the Metroplex really remained very stable last night."

Allan Saxe, an associate political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, said he was mildly surprised that two "strong Republican incumbents were defeated."

"Two years ago, I was saying that the unpopularity of the Bush White House was trickling down to Tarrant County, and it’s still doing that," Saxe said. "The quick answer from me, the Democrats are back."

Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Stephanie Klick said there are pockets in Tarrant County that can elect a Democrat for offices like county commissioner, constable and justice of the peace. She also said the county’s demographics have changed in District 96 and Senate District 10, especially in the central city, making it easier for Democratic candidates.

It is still hard for a Democrat to be elected countywide, she said. Judges, the sheriff and the district attorney, for example, are elected by all of the voters — and all are Republicans.

"Look at the northeast part of the county, and it is still really going strong" for Republican candidates, Klick said. But that doesn’t mean that GOP candidates can take anything for granted, she said.

"We have to convince the voters every single election that we are worthy of being elected," Klick said.

Tarrant County Democratic Chairman Steve Maxwell said no one was expecting the rapid shift to the left that has occurred in Dallas County to happen in Tarrant this year.

But Maxwell believes Democrats will gradually gain strength, as the Davis and Turner wins show.

"First of all, the county is still a Republican County," Maxwell said. "And it’s still very difficult for the Democrats to win a countywide race.

"But the other side of that is when you look at the numbers, we keep doing better each election. Our Democratic candidates in these countywide races keep getting a little higher percentage of votes and a little higher percentage of votes."

Staff writers Max B. Baker and Anna Tinsley contributed to this report.