Voting News

6 Dallas City Council seats are still TBD and face runoffs after May 1 election

Eight propositions were on the ballot in Austin.

Photo courtesy of The Heritage Society Museum

The final results are in from the May 1 elections, with some key races across Dallas-Fort Worth still left to be determined in runoff elections.

Runoff Election Day is June 5. Early Voting begins on May 25 and extends to June 1.

In Dallas County, 127,929 people voted — 9.62 percent of the total registered voters.

In Tarrant County, 165,661 voted — 14.15 percent of the total registered voters.

Dallas City Council
Eight incumbent council members were re-elected. Six will go into runoffs, three of whom are incumbents facing challengers.

D1 - Chad West was re-elected.
D2 - Seat currently occupied by outgoing Adam Medrano goes into a run-off between Jesse Moreno and Sana Syed.
D3 - Casey Thomas was re-elected.
D4 - Incumbent Carolyn King Arnold faces a run-off with Maxie Johnson.
D5 - Jaime Resendez was re-elected.
D6 - Omar Narvaez was re-elected.
D7 - Incumbent Adam Bazaldua faces a run-off with Kevin Felder.
D8 - Tennell Atkins was re-elected.
D9 - Paula Blackmon was re-elected.
D10 - Adam McGough was re-elected.
D11 - Seat currently occupied by outgoing Lee Kleinman goes into a run-off between Jaynie Schultz and Barry Wernick.
D12 - Cara Mendelsohn was re-elected.
D13 - Seat currently occupied by outgoing Jennifer Staubach Gates goes into a run-off between Gay Donnell Willis and Leland Burk.
D14 - Incumbent David Blewett faces a run-off with Paul Ridley.

Tarrant County
Two big mayoral races, in Arlington and Fort Worth, will end in runoffs.

Arlington mayoral race faces a runoff between Jim Ross and Michael Glaspie.
Fort Worth mayoral race faces a runoff between Mattie Parker and Deborah Peoples.

Tarrant County had two other notable measures:

US House. A special election to fill the seat representing the 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House — vacant following the death of Ronald Wright, who died from complications related to COVID-19 — drew 23 candidates and will end in a runoff between Wright's widow Susan Wright and Jake Ellzey, who is currently a member of Texas' House of Representatives.

Southlake surge. In Southlake, candidates backed by a conservative group called Southlake Families PAC won big, including mayor and two City Council members. The PAC is opposed to the idea of instating diversity and inclusion training requirements for Carroll students and teachers.

According to NBC, more than 9,000 Southlake voters cast ballots, three times as many as in similar contests in the past.

Mayors
Other mayoral races included:

Bedford elected Michael Boyter
Lewisville elected TJ Gilmore
Richardson elected Paul Voelker
Garland elected Scott LeMay
Plano elected John Muns
Seagoville elected Dennis Childress
Sunnyvale elected Saji George
McKinney elected George Fuller
Edgecliff elected Michael Rickey
Haltom City elected An Truong
Haslet elected Kerry Rickets
Southlake elected John Huffman
Watauga elected Art Miner
Flower Mound elected Derek France

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E-Cigarette News

Dallas City Council places restrictions on vaping in public

Unsplash

Man vaping

Vaping will now be banned exactly like smoking, thanks to a new ordinance from the Dallas City Council.

At their December 11 meeting, the council passed an ordinance to ban vaping in all the same areas where smoking is not allowed. It'll go into effect on December 11, 2025 — giving everyone a year to get into compliance.

Proposed by City of Dallas Environmental Commission (EVC) and the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability (OEQS), the ordinance amends the definition of “smoking” in the Dallas City Code to include the use of vaping devices.

The ordinance does not ban vaping — it only bans where you can vape: no vaping in all indoor and enclosed spaces; within 15 feet of building entrances; and on park property. The ordinance also bans marijuana smoking in those same places.

In addition, the amendment requires restaurants, hotels, fitness centers and other businesses to update their signage to clearly state that both smoking and electronic smoking devices are prohibited.

The ordinance already earned widespread support from health organizations such as the Dallas County Health and Human Services, the American Lung Association, and the American Heart Association. These organizations, along with the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Surgeon General, have all raised concerns about the health risks of direct and second-hand exposure to vaping aerosols, particularly for vulnerable populations such as children and older adults.

Dallas is not the first city to impose such a ban: San Antonio enacted a similar ban in October. Theirs goes into effect on January 1, 2025.

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