Challengers unseated an unusually large number of officeholders and forced others into runoffs
RUNOFFS | Sara Martinez, left, and Pauline Medrano at their election watch party. Both move to runoffs in their races. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice.)
Primary day wasn’t a good day for incumbents.
Lieutenant Gov. David Dewhurst received only 28 percent of the vote and goes into a runoff for the Republican nomination.
In Dallas County, nine Democratic judges lost to primary challengers. Incumbents in the Legislature fared poorly on both sides of the aisle as well. Republican representatives Linda Harper-Brown of Irving, Bill Ratliff of Carrollton and Diane
Patrick of Arlington lost to tea party challengers, as did Democratic representative Lon Burnam of Fort Worth. Burnam was named a top-10 LGBT ally by Equality Texas in the 2013 session.
In a contested state senate race, Don Huffhines beat Sen. John Carona by 630 votes. Carona has served in the Legislature since 1990.
In justice of the peace precinct 5, place 1, out candidate Sara Martinez received 29 percent of the vote in a five-way race.
She’ll face Melissa Bellan in a runoff. John McCall, who also is gay, polled 16 percent of the vote.
Former Dallas Councilwoman Pauline Medrano received the most votes in the four-way race for Dallas County treasurer.
“This campaign started with Stonewall Democrats’ endorsement,” Medrano said. “That propelled me to other endorsements.”
Her runoff opponent is Bennie Brown.
In the constable race for precinct 5, an area that includes North Oak Cliff and Oak Lawn, incumbent Beth Villareal faces Michael Orozco in a runoff. Out candidate Susan Lopez-Craig polled third out of four candidates. Villareal had the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas endorsement.
Women did well in elections in Dallas County in both parties. In every election where a man and woman ran against each other, the woman won, whether she was the incumbent or challenger, whether the seat was open or not.
Although Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins’ prosecutors did well in judicial races, his top assistant, Heath Harris, failed to unseat Darlene Ewing as Dallas County Democratic Party chair.
Susan Hawk won the Republican primary for district attorney over Tom Nowak. She’ll face Watkins in November. The last time a man beat a woman in a Dallas County election was in 2008 when John Ames beat Diana Lackey in an open race for county tax collector.
As expected, state Sen. Wendy Davis and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott won their gubernatorial primaries and face each other in November.
John Cornyn handily defeated seven opponents for his spot as the nominee for U.S. Senate. On the Democratic side, David Alameel faces Kesha Rogers in a runoff to determine who will challenge Cornyn in November. The Democratic Party issued a warning about Rogers whose main platform is impeaching President Barack Obama.
Parties poll their electorate on issues in Texas primaries. Democrats asked, “The Congress and the Texas Legislature should adopt legislation that expands protections against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based upon sexual orientation and gender identity.” In Dallas County, 91 percent voted in favor of that question. Statewide, 88 percent of Democrats voted for it, too.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 7, 2014.
