Election News

No Beto for us but women candidates win big in Dallas midterm elections

A last chance for now to have this photo, sob.

Courtesy photo

Beto lost, but Texas had an epic turnout in the 2018 midterm election on November 6, with more than half of the eligible voters in the state taking to the polls. Republicans were re-elected in every statewide race, but Democrats gained 12 new seats in the Texas House of Representatives.

In one of the biggest victories for Democrats, Collin Allred defeated Republican incumbent Pete Sessions, who has been in office since 2003, for the U.S. House seat for District 32. Flipping this House seat helped push Democrats to take majority control of the lower chamber, winning 219 races across the country. Republicans now hold 193 seats.

Incumbent Senator Ted Cruz pulled off a narrow victory over Representative Beto O'Rourke, winning by 51 percent and 200,000 more votes than Beto.

In his concession speech, O'Rourke congratulated Cruz and thanked his supporters.

"I'm as inspired, I'm as hopeful, as I have ever been in my life, and tonight's loss does nothing to diminish what I feel about Texas and this country," O'Rourke said. He also dropped an enthusiastic F-bomb, stating that he was "so fucking proud of you guys" to his supporters.

Dallas County re-elected U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson by a whopping 91 percent.

Dallas County also gets a new district attorney: John Cruezot was elected with 60 percent, replacing incumbent Faith Johnson, who was appointed by Greg Abbott in 2016 to fill the seat vacated by Susan Hawk.

In other state house races, Dallas Democrat Nathan Johnson will replace Don Huffines in Senate District 16, and Julie Johnson will replace Matt Rinaldi in House District 115.

Women won big in the Texas House with five new players taking seats in North Texas including Michelle Beckley, who defeated Ron Simmons of Carrollton; Terry Meza, who defeated Republican state Representative Rodney Anderson of Grand Prairie; and Rhetta Bowers, who defeated Republican Jonathan Boos in Sunnyvale.

Voters approved all four ballot propositions for Dallas ISD. The propositions will allow the district to buy new buses, approves refunding tax notes, raises the tax rate, and approve attendance credits.

Statewide, Republicans were re-elected by slim margins. Governer Greg Abbott was re-elected by 56 percent, Dan Patrick won re-election to Lt. Governer by 51 percent, Ken Paxton kept his seat as Attorney General with 51 percent, Land Commission George P. Bush won with 54 percent, Christi Craddick received 53 percent of the vote for Railroad Commissioner, and Sid Miller won re-election to Agriculture Commissioner with 51 percent.

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Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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