This week, in news from Dallas-Fort Worth, we have the end of the filing period for the March primaries, including a surprise primary matchup for a state Senate seat here in Dallas; competing proposals for next year’s bond election in Dallas have our city officials getting cranky; that big property in Irving that the Adelsons have bought; Pale Horse gets a new name; short-term rentals, both those in Dallas and those owned by AG Ken Paxton; a roundup of school district news; DPD’s new constitutional policing unit; the question of who’s bigger in rodeos, Fort Worth or Houston; and more.
The Electroclash essentials playlist on Apple Music is responsible for this week’s post.
Files for the March primary are due this week, which means there will be a lot of news about available seats and which incumbents have primary opponents. You can find a list of local races on KERA. The DMN has a good rundown of the Texas congressional delegation’s issues. For the Lege, D Magazine has an overview, plus this piece from KERA about Collin County and the Paxton primary opponents to the legislators who voted against him in his impeachment earlier this year. For complete and detailed news about who’s running in Tarrant County, I refer you to the Fort Worth Report’s election tag, which has stories about pretty much everybody who filed.
The state of the primary in CD 12, Kay Granger’s current seat, is pretty well known. It’s a heavily Republican district. Two Democrats have put their hat in the ring, plus a scrum of Democrats. You may recall that John O’Shea was already planning to primary her and that Craig Goldman, who currently represents HD 97 in the Lege, was the other name brand in what appears to be a crowded primary field. Goldman was on the pro-impeachment side of Paxton matters this summer so it’ll be interesting to see how the Tarrant County GOP tries to put a thumb on the scale against him, and for whom.
After Rep. Michael Burgess’ retirement, CD 26 has a crowded race. Five Republicans and one Democrat will by vying for his seat. I don’t have a good sense for what’s going on in this race, but like CD 12, I’ll be watching it to see which candidates get big GOP backing.
I’m in CD 24, represented by Beth Van Duyne, who is seeking her third term. Two Democrats are contesting the primary: Sam Eppler, whom I know nothing about, and Francine Ly, who has already been texting me for support. Before redistricting, I was in CD 5 and I’m sad but unsurprised to report that Lance Gooden has no primary opponent and no Democrat to oppose him in the general.
In the local state Senate filings, the most exciting news is in SD 16, putting me at ground zero. Nathan Johnson, my incumbent state senator, drew a last minute primary opponent in Victorian Neave Criado, currently holding HD 107 here in Dallas. This is over Johnson’s vote for SB4, which I didn’t like but I can see why he held his nose and voted for it. Johnson is canny and I appreciate his instincts, and as much as I like having a positive choice between two good candidates, I don’t know that Neave Criado can do as well in the Senate given her more confrontational style. That said, I am open to being convinced, and having John Bryant behind her, as mentioned in this KERA piece, is a point in her favor for me. You’ve probably already read this, but the Texas Tribune also has a piece on this race. At press time for these articles, nobody was clear on who was going to run for HD 107; I hope to have some information on that next week.
In other State House news, the big item is in Tarrant County, where HD 97 is now open as incumbent Craig Goldman is running for Kay Granger’s Congressional seat. There’s a good quick summary in the KERA piece I mentioned above and the Fort Worth Report has details on the two Republicans and two Democrats who’ve filed for it. I’m still wading through reports but it also looks like the Tarrant County Republican House members who voted to impeach Ken Paxton unsurprisingly drew primary opponents.
Last, but not least, Denton County has our first residential eligibility question of this cycle, as one of the Republicans vying for the open SD 30 seat says the other guy lives in SD 12. This is the first question of the cycle but it won’t be the last.
