Voters on Nov. 3 will decide on everything from representation at the national, state, and local levels to tax-rate elections that, if approved, will fund public safety initiatives and homelessness response.
In U.S. House District 24, which includes parts of the Park Cities and Preston Hollow as well as a large swath of Tarrant County, incumbent Republican Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne faces a challenge from Democrat Kevin Burge.
Burge is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who previously worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency and was a technical adviser supporting the White House Situation Room during the Biden administration. He now lives in Tarrant County.
Van Duyne is a former Irving Mayor and City Council member who served as Regional Administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She was elected to Congress in 2020.
In Texas House District 108, which includes the Park Cities and Preston Hollow, incumbent Republican Morgan Meyer is running to keep his seat against a Democratic challenger, Allison Mitchell.
Meyer, a University Park resident and partner at the Wick Phillips law firm, was first elected to the Texas House in 2014 and chairs the powerful House Ways & Means Committee. Among the top issues highlighted on Meyer’s website are efforts to provide property tax relief.
Mitchell is a Hockaday School alumna, entrepreneur, and children’s book author. She’s the mother of two children born with autism spectrum disorder, and school funding is one of the top campaign issues on her website.
In the race to lead the Dallas County Commissioners Court, Democratic incumbent Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins is running for re-election against Republican challenger Mike Immler.
Jenkins, who was first elected in 2010, is part owner of the Dallas law firm Loncar Lyon Jenkins. His stewardship of the county through the COVID-19 pandemic and an outbreak of West Nile Virus in 2012 has drawn both praise and criticism.
Immler is an attorney, former executive, and retired Air Force Colonel. Among the priorities listed on Immler’s website are fiscal responsibility and public safety.
For a seat on the Dallas County Commissioners Court representing Precinct 2, which encompasses the Park Cities and Preston Hollow, incumbent Democrat Andy Sommerman has a challenger in Republican Barry Wernick.
Sommerman is a civil trial attorney and partner in the firm Sommerman McCaffity Quesada & Geisler. He was first elected in 2022.
Wernick is an attorney and mediator. He previously ran for the District 11 Dallas City Council seat in 2021 and was a candidate in the GOP primary for state House District 108 in 2024.
Countywide, voters will decide whether to approve an ad valorem tax rate of $0.248650 per $100 of property value to fund programs that support homelessness response efforts and access to mental health treatment.
Dallas voters will also decide on Proposition A, which will determine whether the city will issue $443 million in general obligation bonds for five public safety facility projects.
In University Park, voters will determine whether to raise the city’s tax rate to 22.0055 cents per $100 assessed valuation. If approved, the measure is expected to raise an additional $1,459,476 for the city, which would go toward public safety and residential parking enforcement technology.
Specifically, the funding would be used to employ four additional police officers as well as purchase a patrol vehicle and equipment at a cost of $601,560, employ two additional firefighters and purchase equipment at a cost of $263,400, reduce the fire department’s pension vesting period from 20 to 10 years and enhance the retirement benefit formula at a cost of $300,286, and invest in a residential parking-enforcement vehicle and equipment, two license plate recognition systems, and a parking district portal at a cost of $294,230.
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