Election News

All the candidates running for Dallas City Council in 2025 election

Dallas City Hall

Photo courtesy of PCF

The Dallas City Council is up for re-election on May 3, with 14 districts to be determined. The deadline for candidates to file was February 14, 2025, and the ballot has now been posted online, with at least 45 candidates who've successfully filed to run. (The list also shows candidates who did not file properly and will not be on the ballot.)

Of the 14 open seats, 10 have incumbent candidates who are currently in office and are running for another two-year term.

Of the remaining four, three are council members who've served four consecutive terms and can no longer run. The one remaining district has a council member who is not running for re-election.

Here's who's running and what they do:

District 1

Just south of downtown Dallas, includes North Oak Cliff, Bishop Arts

Chad West - incumbent
Jason Vanhof - tech sales
Katrina Whatley - realtor

District 2
Weird propeller-shaped district extends from Love Field on the West, through Deep Ellum, to Casa View on the east

Jesse Moreno - incumbent
Sukhbir Kaur - repeat candidate

District 3
Southwest Dallas

Zarin Gracey - incumbent
John Sims - repeat candidate, owner of a podcast/radio studio in Oak Cliff
Jesseca Lightbourne - pending

District 4
South Dallas. Seat vacated by Carolyn King Arnold who has reached the end of her term and cannot run again, despite her efforts.

Maxie Johnson, pastor and DISD board of trustees representative
Avis Hardaman, teacher
Kebran W. Alexander, Dallas County Sheriff Department employee and returning candidate who ran in 2018

District 5
Far southeast Dallas

Jaime Resendez - incumbent
Elizabeth Matus - Health Unit Coordinator at Children's Medical Center

District 6
West Dallas, with seat left vacant by Omar Navaerz, who has reached the end of his term.

Laura Cadena, Navaerz' Chief of Staff
Tony Carrillo - return candidate who ran in 2017 and 2023
David Blewett - one-term council member, but in in a different district (District 14)
Gabriel Kissinger - "filmmaker"
Monica Alonzo - former council member prior to Narvaez
Machelle Wells - flight attendant and minister
Linus Spiller - success coach and repeat candidate
Nicholas "Nico" Quintanilla, youthful entrepreneur

District 7
Far east Dallas, just south of I-30 including Buckner Terrace

Adam Bazaldua - incumbent
Jose Rivas Jr.
Brian O'Neil Hesson - community activist
Cydney Walker - repeat candidate and host of Coffee & Politics talk show
Lamar "Yaka" Jefferson

District 8
Far southeast Dallas, finally vacant now that Tennell Atkins has reached his term limit.

Eliza Ruth Steward - has worked as a notary
Erik Wilson - one-time city council member, running again
Lorie Blair - current member of the Zoning & Planning commission
Eugene Ralph - son of "Christian conservative" Eugene Ralph, is pro Proposition U, requiring Dallas to hire hundreds more police officers
Subrina Brenham - income tax professional, repeat candidate who ran in 2021 and 2023
Davante Peters - community organizer, return candidate

District 9
Northeast Dallas, Lakewood

Paula Blackmon - incumbent
Ernest P. Banda - served on the Red Light Camera commission in 2014

District 10
Northeast Dallas, Lake Highlands

Kathy Stewart - incumbent
Sirrano Keith Baldeo - litigious eccentric repeat candidate ran in 2019 and 2023

District 11
North Dallas/central — left vacant by Jaynie Schulz who chose not to run for another term.

Bill Roth - Lake Highlands lawyer who sued over an affordable housing project
Mona Andy Elshenawy - health care professional
Jeff Kitner - COO at North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, bicycling and schools advocate
Kendal Richardson - motivational speaker

District 12
Far North Dallas

Cara Mendelsohn - incumbent
Marc Rossouw - accountant and financial advisor
Jose Cavazos - poet-philosopher, anti-war & climate crisis activist

District 13
North/northwest Dallas

Gay Donnell Willis - incumbent
Diane Benjamin - realtor in favor of "taking the liberal Marxist trash out in Dallas County and the city of Dallas"

District 14
Downtown and Greenville Avenue

Paul Ridley - incumbent

election politics

Stocks and bonds

New York Stock Exchange will open office in Dallas

Photo by Colin Watts on Unsplash

Dollar bills

The New York Stock Exchange is coming to Texas. According to a release, the financial institution plans to launch NYSE Texas, an electronic equities exchange to be headquartered in Dallas, where it will provide companies with a listing and trading venue that is centered on the economy of the Southwest.

As part of the plan, they'll close down NYSE Chicago to be renamed NYSE Texas.

"What remains of the Chicago Stock Exchange will be history," says the Chicago Sun Times. "The New York Stock Exchange owns what’s left of the equities marketplace and has announced it will move it to Dallas and reincorporate it as the NYSE Texas."

The New York Stock Exchange is an American stock exchange in New York's financial district, under parent company the Intercontinental Exchange. It exists to help people invest and businesses to raise capital. Investing money into stocks and bonds is one way that not-rich people can build a nest egg.

The expansion to Texas is just a reflection of the fact that Texas' economy is growing, says NYSE Group president Lynn Martin.

“As the state with the largest number of NYSE listings, representing over $3.7 trillion in market value for our community, Texas is a market leader in fostering a pro-business atmosphere,” Martin says. “We are delighted to expand our presence in the Lone Star State, which plays a key role in driving our U.S. economy forward.”'

The move comes five months after the Texas Stock Exchange — AKA NASDAQ — announced it would launch in Dallas and begin trading in 2026, pending approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Texas Stock Exchange is backed by financial giants such as BlackRock, Citadel Securities, and Charles Schwab.

Having these exchanges in Texas will give companies more opportunities to list their companies and go public, and will give Texas a higher profile as "the financial capital of America," says Texas Governor Greg Abbott in a statement.

Both new exchanges — NYSE and Texas Stock Exchange — will operate electronically, with stocks trading across multiple venues regardless of where they are first listed.

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