Last week’s candidate filing deadline for Texas primary elections set the ground for upcoming conflicts in Dallas County’s March 2020 primaries. Every incumbent is seeking re-election as Democrats look to maintain their dominance in local and state offices across the county while Republicans aim to regain ground lost in 2018.
County Races
Sheriff Marian Brown drew two Democrat primary challengers: police officer Sam Mohamad and former Precinct 4 Constable Roy Williams, Jr. The winner will face Republican Chad Prda, a former sheriff’s deputy, in the November general election.
Second-term Precinct 1 County Commissioner Theresa Daniel also has a Democrat primary challenger, real estate broker Zachariah Manning. John Wiley Price, who has served as Precinct 3 County Commissioner for 34 years, is unopposed in his Democrat primary. Price was tried for bribery and tax evasion in 2017, but federal prosecutors failed to get a conviction in the public corruption case. Both Price and the winner of the Precinct 1 primary will face Republicans in November.
Democrat Dallas Tax Assessor-Collector John Ames is running unopposed in both the primary and general election, meaning he will be automatically re-elected in November.
State House Races
Over a dozen Dallas-area state representatives are seeking re-election to the Texas House, and all but one of the incumbents are unopposed in their party’s primaries.
Two Republicans remain in the delegation after last year’s “blue wave” flipped five GOP-held seats: State Reps. Morgan Meyer and Angie Chen Button. Neither has a primary challenger, but both will face Democrat opponents in the November general election.
Republicans are challenging incumbents in eight of the eleven Dallas-area House seats held by Democrats. Former State Rep. Linda Koop and attorney Rick Walker are competing in the GOP primary for a chance to regain House District 102, which Koop lost in 2018 to now-State Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos. Communications consultant and former Coppell school teacher Karyn Brownlee will be the GOP nominee aiming to win back House District 115 in November from Democrat State Rep. Julie Johnson.
Six Democrats are vying to represent House District 100 starting in 2021. Two of the March primary candidates, James Armstrong II and Lorraine Birabil, are also in a January 28 runoff to decide who will fill the open seat—vacated in June by now-Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson—for the rest of the current term. No Republican is running.
Judicial Races
Three Democrats are competing for the chance to challenge Dallas County’s only Republican district court judge. Judge Ashley Wysocki of 254th Family District Court, who is unopposed in the GOP primary, will face Kim Brown, Sandre Moncriffe, or Marty Jo Taylor in November.
Incumbent Judge Maricela Moore of the 162nd District court faces a Democrat primary challenge from Marilynn Mayse, who ran unsuccessfully for Dallas County Criminal Court of Appeals No. 2 in the 2016 and 2018 Democrat primaries; the winner will face Republican Jordan Lewis in the general election.
The race for the open 95th District Court bench will be decided in November between Republican Mike Lee and Democrat Monica Purdy. The 95th’s former judge, Republican David Evans, was appointed last month to the Fifth Court of Appeals, replacing Justice Ada Brown who was nominated to serve as a federal district court judge by President Donald Trump. Evans previously served on the appellate court and is running for re-election again in 2020.
No Republicans are running for the criminal district court seats on the 2020 ballot. Three Democrats are competing in March for the open Criminal District Court No. 3 bench. Democrat Judges Nancy Kennedy (Court No. 2) and Dominique Collins (Court No. 4) are unopposed in the primary and general elections.
Below is a list of candidates who have filed to run in the March 3, 2020 Republican and Democrat primaries for Dallas’ county, state House, and district court positions, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s website.
