FORT WORTH, Texas — After heading into the overnight with votes still needing to be tallied, the Republican race for Tarrant County judge had an apparent winner early Wednesday.
Tim O'Hare, an attorney from Southlake, had 56.95% of the vote (71,557) over former Fort Worth mayor Betsy Price's 34.25% (43,028), according to the latest election results from the county.
All 191 precincts in Tarrant County had reported full results by 5 a.m. Tuesday.
Deborah Peoples, who has previously run for Fort Worth mayor, won the Democratic primary with 82.64% of the vote (58,596). Peoples beat Marvin Sutton, who earned 17.36% (12,308) of the vote.
O'Hare and Peoples will square off in the general election in November to replace longtime Judge Glen Whitley, who has been in office since 2007. Whitley announced his retirement after this year.
At a party for Price's campaign Tuesday night, Whitley announced that there was a problem with the county's voting machines and that results would be delayed. Whitley said the county expected to get the results final around 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. The county ultimately reported the final results around 4:30 a.m.
Price called the delayed results an "unfortunate situation." In a statement Wednesday morning, Price thanked her supporters.
"I know you share my disappointment about the outcome of this primary election," Price said. "But I want you to encourage you. We have no regrets and I’m proud that we ran a clean campaign on the issues and never compromised our principles nor our values. In the end, that’s what matters."
O'Hare, who touted endorsements from former President Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz and Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, held a large lead, even before the final results were tallied.
O'Hare was previously the mayor of Farmers Branch from 2008 to 2011 and was also a councilman in the city.
O'Hare and his family later moved to Southlake, and O'Hare was elected chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party in 2016. A graduate of SMU School of Law, O'Hare has been a practicing attorney for 25 years and opened his own firm in 2011.
In the Democratic primary, Peoples cruised to a victory.
Peoples ran for Fort Worth mayor in 2019 and 2021. Last year, Peoples earned more votes than Mattie Parker in the general election but lost to Parker in the runoff, earning 46.5% of the vote.
Peoples lost to Price in the 2019 mayoral election, earning 41.9% of the vote.
Peoples, who grew up in Odessa, was a vice president at AT&T and retired after 30 years at the company. She holds a bachelors degree and an MBA from Texas Woman's University, and she's also been a former chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, becoming the first Black woman to lead the party.