O’Hare recently sat down with Community Impact and shared his decision to run for office in Tarrant County and his background in politics. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Where did your background in politics come from?
My mom instilled in me a deep love of country, and she paid attention to politics. When you are growing up, you emulate your parents and do what they do. I was raised by a single mom, and she paid attention to politics. That is probably what got me interested. I don’t know if I ever thought growing up [I’d get into politics], but after I got out of college is when I first really had a clue what was going on a little bit. I started paying attention to things locally. I don’t think I really ever thought I would do anything like that locally until I decided to run for City Council [in Farmers Branch].
How tough was it to sell the law firm you started?
I still have interest in the law firm, [The Law Offices of Tim O’Hare], but someone else runs the law firm now. Being honest, I saved a lot of money when I first started making money. In addition to the law practice, I made a number of real estate deals that we did pretty well. I’m a finance major to begin with. My wife worked for a financial management company for a long time. ... We understand money and got to a point where we didn’t have to work if we didn’t want to. We will always work, but we can serve the public and make sure we never shut down churches, businesses and schools again.
What has it been like since the election?
I took a week off and traveled the country. [I] took a road trip to clear my mind. We worked incredibly hard during the election, both in the primary and general. ... We just took a week to drive around the country and see America. In the midst of it all, there’s been phone calls, text messages, emails, you name it, every way anyone can communicate to you. I’ve met with the county judge; I met with the county administrator and one of the county commissioners. I don’t think I would describe it as a whirlwind, because I have been in this situation before.
What does it mean to be the next judge in Tarrant County, replacing B. Glen Whitley?
It is an incredible honor to be the chief political executive of Tarrant County. Tarrant County is the third-largest county in Texas and 14th largest in the country. Being the chief political executive is important to our state and our country. ... [Whitley] served the public for a long time. We will probably do things a little bit differently, and we will do everything we can to cut property taxes and do everything we can to make the streets safer than they are today.
How did you end up in Tarrant County?
Tarrant County is only 7 miles from the border of Farmers Branch. I’ve always lived near it, and I spent my whole life in Tarrant County for a multitude of things, whether it be the [Fort Worth] zoo, [the] convention center, downtown [Fort Worth] eating [or] going to Grapevine regularly. I feel like I’ve lived here forever; it didn’t feel like some big change moving from Farmers Branch to Southlake. We moved here, like most people do, for the schools. We wanted to live on a little bit of land, and we live on 3 acres. We wanted to be able to go to the best public school in the best neighborhood we could find.
