Tarrant County district, county clerks are on the ballot

Editor’s note: This article will be updated with voting results after polls close at 7 p.m.

Two relatively unknown but important county positions are on the ballot on Election Day.

Voters will get to select who will serve as the district and county clerks of Tarrant County. 

The district clerk handles court business, finances and documents for the county’s magistrate and associate judges. Republican incumbent Tom Wilder and Democratic challenger Nathan Smith are vying for the seat.

What is a district clerk?

Take a look at our local government information guide for more details.

What is a county clerk?

Take a look at our local government information guide for more details.

The county clerk is the record-keeper for commissioners court and county courts. The clerk also is custodian of records including birth and death records, marriage licenses and property deeds. Republican incumbent Mary Louise Nicholson and Democratic challenger Lydia Bean are the two choices voters will be able to consider.

Here’s a look at both local races.

District clerk

Wilder, 82, was first elected to the position in 1994 and is a businessman by trade, having operated a commercial real estate company for 22 years prior to taking on his role in public office. 

Wilder was the last person of nine who filed to run for district clerk in 1995, he said. Since then, the Tarrant County native has won eight straight elections for the position. 

“I don’t need the job. It’s not financial. I enjoy doing it, and we have several things that I want to complete,” Wilder previously said to the Fort Worth Report.

His priorities if reelected include completing the replacement of the court case management system with the implementation of a system called TechShare, renovating the justice center, and decreasing the turnover of county employees.

Smith, 38, previously served as a staff member for Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons and in several roles with the U.S. Army, including as a compliance officer for military secret facilities.

Smith said he decided to run for district clerk because he saw what he described as a gaping hole in Tarrant County’s judicial system, and argued that Wilder was not fulfilling his responsibilities.

“He sees that as a business operation, and I don’t see it as that at all. I see it as a public servant who is supposed to be performing a function for the public and making things like court documents available to the public and not charging exorbitant fees for those services,” Smith previously said.

Smith listed his three priorities as staffing magistrate hearings with district clerk personnel, facilitating the jury summons process and ending the practice of charging residents to access court cases.

County clerk

Nicholson, 60, has been clerk since 2011 and ran unopposed in this spring’s GOP primary. 

During her tenure, Nicholson supported a 2021 Texas House bill that lowered the local population needed — to 800,000 from 3.3 million — for a county clerk office to require a person to present photo I.D. to file certain property records. She also launched a free notary fraud alert service to help protect the integrity of property records.

Nicholson said her main priorities if reelected are balancing enhanced delivery of service with budgetary restraint; recruiting, training and retaining high performing employees; and providing great customer service.

“This position should seek continuous improvement and cost savings in the delivery of services online and in person while providing outstanding customer service,” Nicholson previously wrote in an email to the Report.

Bean, 45, ran for Texas House District 93 in 2020 but lost to current Tarrant County Commissioner Matt Krause. She then ran in a special election for the U.S. House Texas District 6 in 2021, which she lost to Republican Jake Ellzey in a runoff.

Bean previously said she has seen a crisis in accountability, transparency and democracy in county offices, including the clerk.

Bean’s main priorities are to champion greater participation and transparency in the county budget, to protect free and fair elections as vice chair of the Tarrant County Elections Commission, and to fight deed fraud. 

“For us to really turn Tarrant County government around and set a better culture in county government, we need a new county clerk,” Bean previously said. 

Ismael M. Belkoura is the nonprofit editor for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from North Texas Community Foundation. Contact him at [email protected].

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.