FORT WORTH, Texas — Tarrant County is looking for a new person to run its elections after administrator Heider Garcia resigned on Monday.
WFAA obtained his resignation letter, which points to political pressure from Republican county Judge Tim O’Hare as the reason behind leaving the post.
With early voting in the May 6 general election just a week away, Garcia said he plans to stay in his current role until June 23.
“He’s a really effective elections administrator,” Jessica Huseman, the editorial director at Votebeat, said. “The former secretary of state, John Scott, described him to us as the prototype of what you want.”
Garcia is currently serving the vice president of the Texas Association of Election Administrators (TAEA).
Brazos County elections administrator and TAEA president Trudy Hancock said in a statement, “He was open and transparent with his processes. He had a successful forensic audit that was performed by the Secretary of State’s office. His departure will be a detriment to the voters of Tarrant County.”
“Putting elections in the hands of an inexperienced person means worse outcomes for voters,” Huseman said.
Garcia’s resignation letter thanked county administrator GK Maenius for his support and leadership.
At the end of the letter, Garcia addresses O’Hare, saying, “my formula to ‘administer a quality transparent election’ stands on respect and zero politics; compromising on these values is not an option for me. You made it clear in our last meeting that your formula is different.”
News of Garcia’s resignation received an immediate response from local leaders.
Alisa Simmons, a Democratic county commissioner, wrote on Twitter, “It is unfortunate that a stellar county Elections Administrator, who has operated an office void of political interests, is forced to resign. This is what you get when you have commissioners court members playing political chess with our elections process.”
“He’s clearly fostering an environment when Heider doesn’t feel like he can continue to be a professional elections administrator,” Allison Campolo, the Tarrant County Democratic Party Chair, said.
Campolo blames O’Hare, who campaigned on election integrity and cutting the county’s budget, for politicizing voting.
“It’s a really scary prospect. If we can’t keep somebody as dedicated and professional as Heider as our EA here in Tarrant then who’s going to be next,” she said. “We were afraid to elect him as a county judge and that came true today, that extremist politicization of our voting rights.”
In a statement, O’Hare said he’ll call a meeting soon to start searching for a replacement, adding, “I want nothing more than quality, transparent elections… Mr. Garcia voluntarily resigned his position, and I wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Garcia did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.
He has served in the role for five years. O’Hare was a commissioner and part of the unanimous vote to offer Garcia the role in 2018.
Since being elected judge in 2022, O’Hare has sparred with Garcia in commissioner court meetings, the Star-Telegram reported when O’Hare spoke at a political event last week, he said he would be calling for a review of Garcia’s performance after the May election.
In 2020, former President Donald Trump, who won Texas by a six-point margin, called for an audit of the state’s results. Within hours, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the state would conduct an audit.
A final report released in December 2022 said, "Tarrant County administers a quality, transparent election" -- the phrase both Garcia and O’Hare separately referenced.
Garcia told the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform he received death threats after the 2020 election including threats to his children and his home address was posted online.
“So many people from all walks of the aisle have found Heider to be an upstanding elections administrator,” Campolo said.
Despite the nearly issue-free election and no criminal charges in the county for fraud, O’Hare championed Sheriff Bill Waybourn and District Attorney Phil Sorrells for creating an election integrity task force in the county. Garcia has previously invited members of the public to inspect and test the voting machines to help build trust.
Blanco County is without an election administrator and Gillespie County’s entire elections staff quit after harassment, but no counties close to the size of Tarrant have continued to conduct elections without an elections administrator.
“Frankly they’re not being paid to get pressured or harassed on a daily basis,” Huseman said.
She said Republican leaders like O’Hare are creating issues and doubt.
“There are no problems right now,” she said. “They are creating problems with their behavior and then they’ll point to those problems and say we were right the whole time.”