Omar Narvaez, right, at his election watch party at Cinco Cocinas in Oak Lawn, with Dallas City Councilman Adam Bazaldua. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com
In a stinging defeat for the LGBTQ+ community in Dallas and across the South, Colin Allred beat Rep. Julie Johnson by 1,600 votes in Tuesday’s primary runoff to claim the Democratic nomination for Texas’s 33rd congressional district.
The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement recognizing Johnson’s many accomplishments and thanking her for her work in office, with HRC President Kelley Robinson saying that the runoff results “do nothing to erase Julie Johnson’s accomplishments or her status as a trailblazer.
Robinson continued, “She was the first out LGBTQ+ person to be elected to Congress from the South and has been a relentless defender of equality. … We are very grateful for her leadership and will continue to work with her in Washington in the coming months.
“While this is a tough loss, we know she’s far from done being a changemaker in this country and in Texas,” Robinson said. “Julie has always been and will always remain a member of the HRC family.”
Allred, speaking to supporters Tuesday after being declared the winner, said, “When Donald Trump and the Republicans are eviscerating our rights and our Constitution, making life unaffordable for working people, starting wars out of nowhere, we need to move on from talking about what’s going on in the Democratic Party and start talking about what they [Republicans] have been doing.”
Allred now faces Patrick Gillespie in the November general election. Gillespie defeated John Sims in the District 33 GOP runoff.
Two other gay Dallas candidates won their runoffs.
Rep. Venton Jones
State Rep. Venton Jones, who was House Minority Whip in his second term in office, faced multiple challengers in the Primary Election and barely missed winning without a runoff.
Jones received more than 83 percent of the vote to defeat Amanda Richardson in the runoff on Tuesday.
Omar Narvaez
Former Dallas City Councilman Omar Narvaez faced four opponents for an open Justice of the Peace slot in the March Primary. In Tuesday’s runoff against Katelyn Logie, he received 62 percent of the vote to win the seat.
Narvaez will serve in Precinct 5, Place 2, which covers Oak Cliff and Oak Lawn. He is the second openly gay JP in Texas. Serving in Precinct 5, Place 1 is Sara Martinez, who is the first openly lesbian JP in Texas.
Around the state
In other LGBTQ+ news around the state, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker lost her race for the Democratic nomination for Harris County Judge. Despite polls showing her ahead with a commanding lead just weeks before the election, former Houston City Councilwoman Letitia Plummer narrowly won.
In other election news, Sen. Nathan Johnson from Dallas beat former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski to become the Democratic nominee to replace Attorney General Ken Paxton. Jaworski ran against Paxton four years ago and was soundly defeated.
Johnson will face Mays Middleton in November. Middleton defeated Rep. Chip Roy in this week’s GOP runoff.
Paxton easily won his race with John Cornyn for the Republican nomination for U.S. senator. Cornyn has served four terms in office, but in the last week before the runoff, Paxton received the endorsement of President Donald Trump. Paxton won in a landslide victory. He faces James Talarico in November.
After Cornyn conceded the race, Talarico tweeted, “I want to thank Senator John Cornyn for his years representing our state. We don’t agree on everything, but we both still believe in public service. To Senator Cornyn’s supporters: you have a place in our campaign.”
And Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted, “Congratulations Ken Paxton on the resounding victory. Next, he will destroy Talarico and become the next US Senator from the state of Texas.”
Vikki Goodwin won her runoff for lieutenant governor. During last week’s early voting, she appeared at a rally in Oak Lawn at the branch library on Cedar Springs Road with Talarico, Johnson and other candidates. She will face Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in November.
Locally, Demarcus Offord won the Democratic nod for county clerk. He will face Republican Skye Garcia in November. Current Dallas County Clerk John Warren is retiring after more than 20 years in the position. Warren may be best remembered in the LGBTQ+ community for making sure implementation of same-sex marriage in the county went off without a hitch following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision.
In addition to Johnson’s race, Democratic runoffs were held for two other newly drawn Dallas County congressional seats.
Kevin Burge will become the Democratic nominee in District 24 that was redrawn to favor Republicans. That district covers northeastern Tarrant County and includes a gerrymandered squiggle that begins in northwest Dallas County and meanders down to include the Park Cities.
Chelsea Hockett will be the Democratic nominee in the newly drawn District 5 and will face Republican incumbent Lance Goodin. The district begins in East Dallas County and heads east including Kaufman and Van Zandt counties, then turns south and includes Henderson (Athens and parts of Cedar Creek Lake) and Anderson (Palestine) counties.
In Houston, redistricting placed Rep. Al Green and Christian Menefee into the same district.
They faced each other in a runoff and Menefee won.
Green, 78, is serving his 11th term in office. Menefee, 38, won a special election earlier this year in January and is serving his first term. Menefee received almost 70 percent of the vote and will face Republican Ronald Whitfield in November.
In other Dallas County Democratic races, Thomas Jones won Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1, Place 1. Lakesha Smith won Criminal District Judge, Court No. 5. And Kim Cooks won District Judge, 194th Judicial District.
In other Republican races, Bo French ousted Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright. He will face Democrat Jon Rosenthal in November. A Democrat hasn’t held the railroad commission seat in decades.