Tarrant County commissioner candidates have raised nearly $600,000 in cash donations, with County Judge Tim O’Hare, a Republican seeking his second term, far outpacing the others in both campaign fundraising and spending. O’Hare’s campaign war chest holds more than $700,000 in cash as of July 15.

Campaign Finances

Democrat Alisa Simmons, a county commissioner challenging O’Hare for the county judge seat, raised nearly a third of the $315,000 O’Hare saw in contributions. Her campaign reports spending about $75,000 from cash donations — about half of O’Hare’s reported spending.

O’Hare’s campaign plans to use the funds to expand his campaign’s voter contact program through mail, digital, and grassroots outreach. Simmons’ fundraising this year relied mostly on small cash donations from grassroots supporters, with three contributions of $5,000 or more.

Commissioner Races

Three of the five commissioners court seats are on the Nov. 3 ballot: county judge, commissioner of Precinct 2, and commissioner of Precinct 4. The midterms mark the first election under the commissioners court map approved last summer.

Republican candidates in the two commissioner races maintain significantly more cash than their Democratic opponents. In Precinct 4, Manny Ramirez, a former Fort Worth police officer seeking his second term, raised about twice as much as Nydia Cárdenas, a leadership coach and grassroots activist.

In Precinct 2, Republican Tony Tinderholt, who served 12 years in the Texas House, started his campaign with about $145,000. He raised a little more than $7,000 in cash this year — about 20% of the amount raised by his Democratic opponent Jared Williams, who served on Fort Worth City Council for four years.

Original reporting: Fort Worth Report — read the source article.