Race To Replace Johnson On Commissioner's Court Attracts Spectrum Of Candidates

Arlington TX

03 February, 2022

6:48 PM

Description

By Bob Francis, Fort Worth Report February 2, 2022 In June 2021, longtime Tarrant County Precinct 4 Commissioner J. D. Johnson announced he would not seek re-election after serving on the court since 1983.Along with Johnson, longstanding County Judge Glen Whitley and Precinct 2 Commissioner Devan Allen also are not seeking re-election, making three of the five seats up for grabs in the November election. Two candidates with law enforcement backgrounds quickly announced their intention to fill the Precinct 4 seat: Johnson's son, Joe D. "Jody" Johnson, a former Fort Worth police officer and currently the Tarrant County constable for Precinct 4; and Manny Ramirez, president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association. Both are running as Republicans.A third Republican, Larry Dale Carpenter Jr. joined the primary as well. Carpenter also has some familial connections to county government. He is the grandson of Don Carpenter, who was Tarrant County sheriff from 1985 to 1992. On the Democratic side, Cedric C. Kanyinda is the lone candidate in the primary. Precinct 4 is in the northwest corner of Tarrant County and includes portions of 15 municipalities and 10 school districts. It spans 265.7 square miles of Tarrant County, and the commissioner maintains 164.9 miles of County roads. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.