Why Texas Democrats see this local race as key to turning state blue

Tarrant County is both numerous and strategically significant — a stronghold of far-right activists and a base for their organizing across the state. If Democratic activists succeed, the county will become like Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) home county of Dallas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s (R) home county of Harris and Attorney General Ken Paxton’s (R) home county of Collin — once ruby-red Republican bases that are now solidly blue.

This cycle, Tarrant County Democrats are targeting Sheriff Bill Waybourn (R), who has presided over dozens of mysterious deaths in the county jails — and millions of dollars in settlements with deceased prisoners’ families — over his two terms......

To Democrats, Waybourn isn’t just a vulnerable incumbent — he represents a clear lane of attack following a model that seeks to peel off Republicans in the state’s increasingly minority-dominated urban and suburban counties.

And if Democratic challenger Patrick Moses beats Waybourn next month, Democrats hope it will be a bellwether. In once-red urban counties across the state — Dallas, Bexar, Harris — the Democratic capture of the sheriff’s seat has typically been the first sign of a county shifting blue.

In a sense, Democrats are following the cities-first pattern by which Republicans took the state.



https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4936444-democrats-aim-to-flip-tarrant-county/