Eight Dallas City Council incumbents win reelection; six races headed to runoffs
Three council incumbents and three open seats are headed to runoffs on June 5.
Campaign signs for Dallas City Council candidates\ fill the grass areas outside of the Oak Cliff Sub-Courthouse on the first day of early voting in Dallas, on Monday, April 19, 2021 (Ben Torres / Special Contributor)
By Everton Bailey Jr.
UPDATED: Sunday, 1:25 a.m.: This story has been updated throughout with the final results and comments.
Dallas voters rewarded several of their elected officials with two more years at City Hall while six races will take another month to determine a clear winner.
Eight of 11 incumbents survived challenges to their council seats on Saturday based on the final election returns posted around 1 a.m. on Sunday.
Council members Carolyn King Arnold, Adam Bazaldua and David Blewett were headed to June 5 runoff elections, based on unofficial results.
The three open council races in Districts 2, 11 and 13 also will be decided in June. A runoff is held between the top two vote getters when no candidate can claim more than 50% of the vote.
Incumbents Chad West, Casey Thomas, Jaime Resendez, Omar Narvaez, Tennell Atkins, Paula Blackmon, Adam McGough and Cara Mendelsohn appeared poised to reclaim their seats, according to unofficial results. Resendez’s margin was so thin, he had been on the brink of facing a runoff.
Fourteen of the Dallas City Council’s 15 seats were up for election this cycle and all were contested, with 56 candidates total in the running. Three council members won’t return after serving four consecutive terms (eight years total): Adam Medrano in East Dallas’ District 2; Lee Kleinman in North Dallas’ District 11; and Jennifer Staubach Gates in Northwest Dallas’ District 13.
[Full May 2021 election results]
Mayor Eric Johnson, who was elected in June 2019 and is halfway through his first four-year term, wasn’t eligible to seek reelection until 2023. He publicly endorsed two challengers seeking council seats held by first-term incumbents in Southeast Dallas’ District 5 and South Dallas’ District 7. The spots are held by Resendez and Bazaldua, respectively.
“I love elections, and I have always appreciated and respected the will of the people,” Johnson said in a statement late Saturday. “In several districts, they spoke decisively tonight in favor of returning their incumbents for another term.
“I congratulate them and look forward to continuing to work with them over the next two years.”
Voters also rejected propositions that would have changed Dallas’ charter to allow non-U.S. citizens to be appointed to four city advisory boards and commissions.
Proposition A would have removed the requirement that only registered or qualified voters be appointed to the Park and Recreation Board as well as the city’s plan and redistricting commissions. Proposition B would have repealed a requirement for Civil Service Board members to be a qualified taxpaying citizen.
Voting machines at three polling sites in South Dallas were down for at least an hour Saturday, leading to voters being turned away and directed to other locations. The affected sites were in District 7, which has the largest field of candidates with eight people seeking the council seat.
District 1
Incumbent Chad West defeated three challengers in the race to represent District 1, southwest of downtown Dallas. The area includes the Bishop Arts District and north and west Oak Cliff.
His challengers included digital marketer Stephani A. “Skyle” Kyle, auto technician Gerardo Sánchez and art gallery manager Giovanni “Gio” Valderas.
Kyle and Sánchez were first-time candidates. Valderas ran for this seat against West in 2019.
District 2
First-time candidates Jesse Moreno and Sana Syed advanced to a June runoff to determine District 2′s first representative in 16 years who isn’t a member of the Medrano family.
The V-shaped, 18-square mile stretch includes the Cedars, Deep Ellum, Oak Lawn, parts of downtown and Dallas Love Field.
Moreno, a restaurant owner and former Park Board member, held a lead over Syed, real estate investment firm executive and former Dallas city spokeswoman. Attorney Raha Assadi finished in third, followed by community organizer Jennifer Cortez and health care staffing firm worker Michael Fetzer.
District 3
Incumbent Casey Thomas won big against first-time candidate Irby Foster in the District 3 race.
In addition to other issues, both candidates ran on platforms regarding public safety concerns and code enforcement: Thomas addressed concerns about gunfire and street racing, while Foster, a small business owner, aimed to bolster law enforcement and provide them with mental health services.
This will be Thomas’ fourth consecutive term leading the southwest Dallas district.
District 4
Incumbent Carolyn King Arnold will face Dallas ISD trustee Maxie Johnson next month to see who represents District 4.
Johnson is a first-time candidate. Trailing Johnson were Lelani Russell, a corporate trainer; Matt Canto, a landscaper and Edible Arrangements shop owner; and Johnny Aguinaga, a real estate developer.
District 5
Incumbent Jaime Resendez eked out ahead of his three challengers, including the mayor-endorsed Yolanda Faye Williams, who came in third place.
Resendez, a former school board member, widened his lead just before midnight, barely missing a runoff.
Resendez used Mayor Johnson’s endorsement of a challenger to drum up money and momentum in the final days of the race.
Former pastor and Park Board member Terry Perkins finished slightly ahead of Williams. Also in the race was human resources consultant Ruth Torres.
District 6
Incumbent Omar Narvaez defeated former City Council member Monica Alonzo and three other challengers in the District 6 race. This election was the third time Narvaez and Alonzo have faced off to represent the West Dallas seat.
Alonzo and another challenger, Wendi Macon, sharply criticized Narvaez for not leading on the council. Other challengers included pastor Earl D. Thomas and residential real estate developer Tony Carrillo.
District 7
Incumbent Adam Bazaldua was ahead of seven opponents in this year’s most contested race, but is headed to a runoff against former City Council member and real estate broker Kevin Felder.
Covering South Dallas and Fair Park, District 7 has been at the center of public safety discussions for the past year. As Bazaldua seeks a second term, he’s faced heat from his competitors about reinvesting $7 million from the police overtime budget to other safety projects.
Felder only finished slightly ahead of pastor Donald Parish Jr., who was backed by the mayor and nearly found himself in the runoff.
Also in the race were: community activist Tramonica Brown; consulting firm owner Walter “Changa” Higgins; attorney Calvin Johnson; pastor James “JT” Turknett; and realtor Israel Varela.
District 8
Longtime Councilman Tennell Atkins held onto his seat in the race for South Dallas’ District 8.
Atkins, an incumbent winning an overall seventh term, served on the council from 2007 to 2015 before winning reelection in 2017. His challengers were business owner Subrina Lynn Brenham, delivery driver Lakolya London and health store owner and musician Davante Peters.
District 9
Incumbent Paula Blackmon defeated challengers John Botefuhr and Judy Kumar in the race for East Dallas’ District 9 seat. Blackmon won her second term after being elected in 2019.
Kumar, a project manager in information security, and Botefuhr, a local chiropractor, said they decided to challenge her based on a vote last summer to redirect funds from the Dallas police budget. The vote also split the council and put Blackmon at odds with the mayor.
District 10
Incumbent Adam McGough won re-election against two-time challenger Sirrano Keith Baldeo for North Dallas’ District 10 seat.
McGough is an attorney who teaches mediation and negotiation at Dallas College and serves as the deputy mayor pro tem on the council, where he has held the seat since 2015. Baldeo is publisher of Dallas Pulse News, a small publication that primarily posts his campaign messages on Facebook.
District 11
Former City Plan Commission member Jaynie Schultz and attorney Barry Wernick will face each other again in a runoff election next month for this open seat.
In the race to represent North Dallas, homelessness, property taxes and redevelopment of Valley View Mall have been among the topics that have taken center stage. Wernick held a small lead over Schultz, according to unofficial totals.
Political organizer Hosanna Yemiru and online real estate blog publisher Candy Evans also were in the race. Evans was seeking the seat for the second time in four years while the rest of the field were all first-time candidates.
District 12
Incumbent Cara Mendelsohn won her second term, defeating first-time challenger Elva Curl for the District 12 seat in Far North Dallas.
Curl is a former staffer of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn who previously worked in City Hall for the city manager’s office, public works and the department of aviation.
District 13
Gay Donnell Willis, Turtle Creek Conservancy chief executive, Leland Burk, a real estate developer were neck and neck for this open seat and will meet again in the June runoff election. The winner will represent the northwest part of the city, which includes Preston Hollow and Vickery Meadow.
Burk held a small lead over Willis. Rounding out the field were retired engineer Mac Smith, attorney Ryan Moore, and music teacher Da’On Boulanger-Chatman. Burk ran for this seat in 2013 and lost.
District 14
Incumbent David Blewett will face Paul Ridley, a former planning commissioner, next month.
Ridley won a sizeable lead over Blewett in the race to represent Dallas’ District 14 . Former attorney Elizabeth Viney was in third place.
Blewett, who works in real estate finance, was seeking a second term in the wishbone-shaped district that includes parts of Oak Lawn, downtown and neighborhoods in Old East Dallas.
Viney has slammed Blewett’s commitment to funding public safety while Ridley has said the incumbent lacked the expertise to meaningfully address neighborhoods’ needs.
Staff writers Brooklynn Cooper, Charlie Scudder, Emily Donaldson, Nataly Keomoungkhoun, Nic Garcia and Talia Richman and contributed to this report.
Everton Bailey Jr.. Everton covers Dallas city government. He joined The Dallas Morning News in November 2020 after previously working for The Oregonian and The Associated Press in Hartford, Conn.
