Tarrant County voted red, but some areas were deep blue

Lloyd Jones tries to vote for the best presidential candidate.

This year, for him, it was Democrat Barack Obama. In 2004, it was Republican George W. Bush.

"I was ready to support Bush back then, to give him a chance to finish the job he started," said Jones, 56, who lives in the Handley neighborhood. "Not to sound like a commercial, but it’s time for us to change where we’re going."

His east side voting precinct, 1099, was one of more than 50 local precincts that supported Bush during the 2004 presidential election and flipped to the Democratic nominee this year, according to a Star-Telegram analysis of election records.

Throughout the county, Republican presidential nominee John McCain held the support of more precincts than he lost, and he won the county as a whole with 55.6 percent of the vote, less than Bush’s 61 percent in 2004. But Obama did pick up wins in more than 150 precincts in Tarrant County, mostly the heart and east side of the county, election records show.

"It seemed like Obama was representing more of what I’m wanting than McCain," Jones said.

Flipping for Obama

As expected, Obama picked up local African-American strongholds — such as the Como neighborhood — which turned out overwhelmingly in support of him. Voters in Precinct 1120, at Lake Como Area Council, cast 1,456 votes for Obama, compared with 48 for McCain.

But dozens of precincts flipped for Obama in the center and eastern parts of the county, often surrounded by precincts that steadfastly supported McCain.

One of the most striking changes occurred in central Arlington.

At St. Stephen United Methodist Church, voters in Precinct 2217 cast 712 votes for Bush and 563 for John Kerry in 2004. This year, 754 voters supported Obama and 573 backed McCain.

Northeast Tarrant County maintained its reputation as a GOP stronghold, with most precincts there backing McCain. Yet McCain received a smaller percentage of support than Bush did in many precincts. In Southlake, for instance, 17 precincts gave Bush an average of 79 percent support in 2004. McCain’s support in the upscale city dropped to 73 percent.

Or take Precinct 4540 in Keller.

McCain won the precinct, as Bush did in 2004, and even received 61 more votes than Bush’s 1,320. But Obama ate into McCain’s built-in lead, taking 977 votes from the precinct, which is up from the 619 Kerry received in 2004.

Two-party revival?

The shifts in some precincts may be a sign of the times, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"Tarrant County is going to continue Republican for some years before it becomes closely contested," Jillson said. "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."

Louis McBee is another local voter who supported Bush in 2004 and Obama this year, switching his support between parties just as his polling place, Eastern Hills’ Precinct 1146, did.

"With the situation in Iraq in 2004, everything was topsy-turvy and I didn’t feel like it was time to change administration," McBee said. "This time, everything is out of control, my business is not good and neither are the businesses of a lot of people I’m talking to.

"There seems to be a move afoot to not go forward with just the same ol’, same ol’," he said. "People are just in the mood for something different."