Zee Wilcox vs. the GOP Establishment: Inside the HD-98 Legal Showdown

TEXAS – It began quietly, the way many insider power plays do, with paperwork, phone calls, and closed doors. But within days, the Republican primary for Texas House District 98 erupted into a public spectacle involving court orders, barred debates, and accusations that party elites were deciding elections before voters ever had their say.

At the center of the fight is Zee Wilcox, a Southlake Republican running for the open HD-98 seat, a district that includes Southlake, Grapevine, Keller, and Colleyville. The seat is currently held by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, who is not seeking reelection. In a district that reliably votes Republican, the March GOP primary will almost certainly determine the next state representative.

Wilcox is not the candidate party insiders expected, or wanted. That, she argues, is precisely the problem.

Removed From the Ballot, Then Restored by Judges

On January 7, 2026, Wilcox was removed from the Republican primary ballot by Tarrant County GOP Chairman Tim Davis. The stated reason was technical: Wilcox filed her candidate application using a federal form rather than the Texas state form. The two documents are nearly identical, with the primary distinction being that the state form includes a clause acknowledging Texas’s nepotism laws.

Wilcox maintains that the issue was non-substantive and correctable. The form was notarized and accepted at the time of submittal. She says she attempted to resolve the matter after being notified, and that she had already acknowledged nepotism laws through other required filings, including the appointment of a campaign treasurer. Nevertheless, her name was struck from the ballot by Davis.

Within days, Wilcox sued.

On January 12, a Tarrant County district judge granted her a temporary restraining order, halting further action against her candidacy. Three days later, Judge Ken Curry went further, ruling that Davis could not continue efforts to remove Wilcox from the ballot. Unless appealed, the injunction keeps her in the race.

“I thought campaigning was going to be hard,” Wilcox told the Fort Worth Report. “I didn’t know that I was actually going to have to fight my own party.”

Davis has defended his actions publicly as a matter of election integrity, denying any conspiracy or political motivation. He declined to comment further following the court’s ruling, according to the Fort Worth Report, which first covered the case in detail.

Barred From Debates and Public Forums

While the ballot fight played out in court, Wilcox says she faced a second, quieter form of exclusion.

According to Wilcox, Republican-aligned organizations, including the Metroplex Republican Women and the Colleyville Conservative Club, hosted public candidate forums and debates for HD-98, but denied her the opportunity to participate. She says she was explicitly told she could submit written answers but would not be allowed to speak or appear alongside the other candidates.

Wilcox showed up anyway.

She says her presence was meant to alert voters that a legally qualified candidate was being intentionally silenced. Organizers later claimed she arrived improperly dressed or left early. Wilcox disputes that account and says she has emails and messages documenting her exclusion on her Facebook Page.

The clubs have characterized themselves as private organizations with discretion over their events. Wilcox counters that once an organization advertises a candidate forum to the public and invites voters, it crosses into what courts have long recognized as a limited public forum, where viewpoint discrimination is prohibited under First Amendment law.

She has publicly stated her intent to pursue legal action over the exclusions.

The Insider Connections Drawing Scrutiny

The controversy does not exist in a vacuum. Wilcox is running against Keller Mayor Armin Mizani and Colleyville businessman Fred Tate. Both have strong ties to local GOP leadership.

Davis, the county GOP chairman who ordered Wilcox’s removal, has acknowledged a personal friendship with Mizani and previously donated $10,000 to his campaign. Mizani has also received high-profile support from party insiders.

Complicating matters further, the president of the Texas Federation of Republican Women, is Jill Tate, who is the spouse of Fred Tate, another candidate in the same race. While no illegality has been established, the overlapping relationships have fueled Wilcox’s argument that the process was designed to narrow the field, not expand voter choice.

Wilcox has gone further, alleging that Mizani was promised the HD-98 seat if he exited a separate State Senate race, clearing the way for another preferred candidate. With Wilcox in the race, she argues, the plan breaks down, likely forcing a runoff.

That, she says, is why she had to be removed.

A Broader Pattern, Not an Isolated Case

The Wilcox case unfolded amid broader ballot challenges across Tarrant County. Davis also challenged multiple Democratic judicial candidates, prompting retaliatory challenges from the local Democratic Party against GOP candidates. The result has been widespread uncertainty heading into early voting, which begins February 17.

In court, Wilcox represented herself, arguing that election laws are meant to ensure fair access, not operate as a “gotcha” system used selectively against disfavored candidates. Judges appeared to agree, at least in her case.

Opinion: When the Party Forgets the Voters

What makes this story larger than one candidate is not the paperwork dispute or even the courtroom drama. It is the underlying question of who controls Republican primaries in Texas.

Conservatives have long argued that sunlight, open debate, and voter choice are antidotes to corruption. Yet in HD-98, those principles appear to have collided with a culture of insider management. When party officials decide who may speak, who may appear, and who may even run, the primary becomes a formality rather than a choice.

If Zee Wilcox is wrong, the remedy is simple: beat her at the ballot box. If she is right, the implications are far more troubling.

Either way, voters in HD-98 deserve to hear from every lawful candidate, not just the ones approved behind closed doors.

*Pipkins Reports requested comment from Armin Mizani, Mayor of Keller and a candidate for House District 98; Tim Davis, Chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party; Tammy Nakamura, Colleyville Conservative Club; Carol Anderson, President of Metroplex Republican Women; and Fred Tate, a candidate in the HD-98 race.

After 48 hours, as of publication, no responses have been received.

Zee Wilcox did respond to our requests for comment. The reporting that precedes is based on her statements, along with publicly available records and court filings independently reviewed by Pipkins Reports.