Our recommendations in all May 1 elections
We interviewed candidates in 28 local elections. Here are summaries of each race.
Your friends at The Dallas Morning News editorial board have provided for you a way to research candidates in May 1 election races that matter to you. Read our Voter Guide at voterguide.dallasnews.com.(Eric Gay / The Associated Press)
District 6: Michael Wood (R)
Michael Wood, 34, set himself apart in a huge field of 23 candidates that will likely result in a runoff to fill the seat of late Congressman Ron Wright, who died of COVID-19 in February. Wood is a Fort Worth businessman and military veteran who we think embodies key conservative principles of limited government, low taxes, reducing debt, reforming entitlement programs, religious liberty, free trade and support of Second Amendment rights. But what sets him apart from other Republicans is his willingness to tackle hard truths about his own party. Wood said the GOP has become a “cult of personalit
Our recommendation for Dallas City Council District 14
Incumbent David Blewett faces Paul Ridley and Elizabeth Viney.
Two years ago, when Philip Kingston lost his seat to represent District 14 on the Dallas City Council, he was replaced by David Blewett, a person who knew far less than Kingston did about how City Hall worked and about what the priorities of the district’s residents were, but who enjoyed a critical advantage. He didn’t have Kingston’s divisive approach.
Blewett stumbled as a council member initially, but he has since developed into a capable representative who has balanced difficult questions between growth and preservation in a district where residents are hardly shy about voicing their views.
Following the Money in Dallas City Council Campaigns
You can learn a lot from campaign finance reports.
By
Alex Macon and Matt Goodman
Published in
FrontBurner
April 14, 2021
12:24 pm
Earlier this month, over 50 candidates in 14 contested Dallas City Council races had to file their latest campaign finance reports, documenting their fundraising and spending over the last several months.
The Dallas Morning News has hit on some of the bigger takeaways from these records. Almost $900,000 has been pumped into contests that will determine the makeup of the city council, with Mayor Eric Johnson spared from having to run for re-election until 2023. Big-name donors who have previously backed the mayor are now supporting challenges to three incumbent city council members who voted against Johnson last fall in a battle over police overtime funding a sign that public safety concerns (and the mayor’s strained relationships with many of his colleagues) are driving forces this election
They remember a different time in Dallas, when, for about two decades, “residents had a string of thoughtful, sincere and righteously angry advocates who served on their City Council.”
Former Mayor Laura Miller stopped over a dozen coal plants from being built during the administration of Gov. Rick Perry and implemented the first green procurement ordinance in the region. Former City Council member Angela Hunt hunted down waste, corruption and “staff shenanigans.”
Then, there were former City Council members Scott Griggs, Philip Kingston and Mark Clayton who helped defeat the Trinity Toll Road and gas drilling prospects in Dallas.
“Sometimes they fought their council opponents directly. Sometimes they made sure documents that were never supposed to see the light of day got their own spotlight,” the post read. “You knew these partisans would find a way to advance the cause. Because that cause was why they wanted to serve.”
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