Although many voters were confused about where to cast their ballots during the March 3 primary, its results have provided clarity about who will be up for election in May.
Republicans will head back to the polls to decide on their preferred candidate in the closely watched Texas U.S. Senate race. Incumbent Sen. John Cornyn faces Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the runoff. The winner of that runoff election will face Democratic State Rep. James Talarico, who beat Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett from Dallas in the primary.
Both Republicans and Democrats will vote on their preferred candidate to succeed Paxton as Texas Attorney General.
Republicans will choose between State Sen. Mayes Middleton and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy. Neither candidate cleared the 50% vote threshold necessary to avoid a runoff in the March election.
Democrats will choose between State Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.
Locally, Democrats Kevin Burge and TJ Ware advanced to a runoff for their party’s nomination. The winner will challenge incumbent Republican Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne in U.S. House District 24, which covers a swath of Tarrant County and part of Dallas County, including the Park Cities and Preston Hollow. Van Duyne ran unopposed for her party’s nomination.
Incumbent Republican Morgan Meyer earned 67% of the vote to handily beat challenger Sanjay Narayan for the GOP’s nomination in Texas House District 108. The district includes the Park Cities and part of Preston Hollow. Meyer will face Democrat Allison Mitchell in November, who ran unopposed for her party’s nomination.
In an upset, Amber Givens, who’d resigned from her position as a Dallas County District Judge to run for Dallas County District Attorney, beat incumbent John Creuzot, who was first elected as the county’s top prosecutor in 2018.
Republican Berry Wernick garnered 57% of the vote to beat Blake W. Clemens and earn the Republican nomination for Dallas County Commissioner for Precinct 2. Wernick will go on to face incumbent Democrat Andy Sommerman in November.
There was widespread confusion among Dallas County voters in the March 3 primary election about where they could cast ballots. Hundreds were redirected after showing up at incorrect polling places. The confusion stemmed in part from a decision by the Dallas County Republican Party to return to precinct-based, assigned polling locations.
During the early voting period, as in previous elections in recent years, residents were able to cast their ballots at any county polling location.
At University Park United Methodist Church alone, more than 300 voters had to be redirected, according to volunteers who were assigned to help guide voters there. Kendall Cohoe said she was among the voters redirected from University Park United Methodist Church and called the issue “an inconvenience.”
Following the chaos, there was legal maneuvering over an extension of voting hours for Democrats. The Dallas County Democratic Party got a court order allowing polling sites to remain open until 9 p.m. for Democrats. The Supreme Court of Texas ultimately issued a stay of that court order, adding that ballots cast by voters who were not in line to vote at 7 p.m. should be separated.
The Dallas County Democratic Party has since dropped its lawsuit over the March primary provisional ballots per a March 9 filing which said the party had determined that “the Texas Supreme Court is no longer a viable forum for a fair application of the law.”
For more election news, check out the full roundup of March primary election results for races impacting Preston Hollow on our website, peoplenewspapers.com.
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