Race for Fort Worth’s Texas House 93 seat remains in legal limbo after Nov. 3 election

The race for Fort Worth’s Texas House District 93 remains up in the air more than a week after Republican Alan Blaylock was defeated by Democrat Ericka Lomick, who suspended her campaign before early voting started over questions about her eligibility as a candidate.

The Tarrant County Commissioners Court on Friday canvassed results of the Nov. 3 election, making no finding of Lomick’s eligibility. The situation heads next to the Texas House of Representatives, which has purview under the state constitution to determine eligibility of its members. 

“I’m asking state officials to follow the law and make sure this district is represented by someone legally eligible to hold the seat. Anything less is a fraud,”  Blaylock, who didn’t attend the commissioners court meeting, said in a release Friday night.

Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who was elected as Tarrant’s new county judge Nov. 3, moved to canvas the election results. After discussion about whether to add amendments including no finding of Lomick’s eligibility, the court voted 3-0 — including County Judge Tim O’Hare and Commissioner Matt Krause — to accept the election result.

“It doesn’t change anything,” O’Hare said during the discussion about whether to add the amendments. “The results are canvassed.”

Allison Campolo, chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, said after the vote that she expected the result.

“And honestly, Blaylock’s last-minute panic attempts to try to get people to not certify the election are desperate and foolish and delayed,” Campolo said.

O’Hare said before Simmons’ motion that the court had received “multiple documents” pertaining to Lomick’s eligibility Friday afternoon.

Lomick, whose name remained on the ballot after she suspended her campaign in late September, nonetheless defeated Blaylock, with 38,972 votes to his 38,162. Lomick did not respond to requests from the Fort Worth Report this week for an interview. The district covers far north Fort Worth, Haslet, Blue Mound and part of Saginaw.

“I’m not an attorney, but the Texas Election Code is clear on this,” Blaylock said earlier this week in emailed remarks to the Report about the situation, which is unusual in Texas politics.

“Texas law has a process for exactly this situation,” Blaylock wrote via email. “When the winner of an election is ineligible, state officials can declare it, and the voters of HD 93 get a new special election.”

Campolo said in an interview Thursday that Lomick has decided to claim her seat in the House when members are sworn in January.

“She’s at orientation, she received the welcome letter from Speaker Burrows,” Campolo said. “She’s getting ready to be sat as a member of the House.”

Texas law bars people from serving in public office who have been “convicted of a felony from which the person has not been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disabilities.”

Article 3, Section 8 of the Texas Constitution declares that the House of Representatives is the “judge of the qualifications and election of its own members, but contested elections shall be determined in such manner as shall be provided by law.”

It was not clear how the House would make the determination on whether Lomick can legally take office; media representatives of Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows could not be reached Friday by the Report. A spokesperson for the Texas secretary of state, which administers the state’s election code, said earlier this week the agency has no role as a referee in this dispute and deferred to the state Constitution.

“It actually falls to the Texas House itself,” Campolo said Thursday, adding she did not know the specifics of the procedures if Blaylock wants to contest Lomick’s seating.

The Texas Election Code allows the canvassing authority — in this case, the commissioners court — to declare an election candidate ineligible before certifying the election results.

The Texas Constitution — Article 3, Section 13 — requires the governor to call a special election to fill a vacancy in either the Texas House or the Texas Senate.

“We’re asking state and county officials to do their jobs and apply the Election Code as written,” Blaylock, who left a seat on the Fort Worth City Council to run for state house, told the Report in his earlier comments.

“If that means a new election, I’m ready to make my case to the voters again,” he said. Blaylock did not elaborate on what he meant by his references to the roles of state and county officials.

Lomick suspended her campaign in August after a political action committee supporting Blaylock questioned her eligibility, accusing her of “federal convictions, unpaid taxes and deceptive statements.”

The Protect and Serve Texas PAC published records showing Lomick was indicted and pleaded guilty to three federal felonies: mortgage fraud conspiracy, bank fraud related to a mortgage fraud scheme and money laundering conspiracy.

Lomick, who neither confirmed nor denied the allegations, said in a statement at the time that she wanted to “allow the people of HD 93 to elect someone who can serve the district without the burden of defending against attacks that would threaten to derail the business of the people.”

Blaylock, in his emailed remarks to the Report earlier this week, noted “federal court records show Ericka Lomick pleaded guilty to federal felony charges of mortgage fraud, bank fraud and money-laundering conspiracy.”

“We haven’t found any record of a pardon,” Blaylock continued. “And the restitution she owes still isn’t paid: the federal government recorded a $300,000 lien in Tarrant County in 2024.”

“Ms. Lomick herself admitted the problem when she suspended her campaign and told voters to ‘elect someone who can serve the district,’” Blaylock said. “I agree with her.”

Blaylock can also sue, but he declined to tell the Report whether he was willing to do that.

“This isn’t about party or about me,” Blaylock said. “It’s about following the law and making sure District 93 has a representative who can lawfully serve.”

Campolo told the Report that Lomick’s attorneys determined “she’s been fully released from the resulting disabilities.” Campolo said she did not know the specifics of how Lomick had been released from those disabilities. 

The Texas attorney general has determined a person may be released by judicial clemency, an executive pardon, or a certificate of restoration of civil rights for certain federal offenses and offenses under the laws of another country, according to The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit advocacy organization.

Scott Nishimura is senior editor for local government accountability and a Fort Worth City Hall report at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at [email protected].

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