The Dallas City Council elections are May 1 and early voting starts Monday. All 14 council seats are contested, and three districts, 2, 11 and 13, will see new faces as the incumbents have reached term limits. The other 11 incumbents face challengers. This is the ninth of 14 stories on the races, which started with coverage of the three open seats. The rest are being featured in ascending numerical order.
Adam Bazaldua was about a year into his first term as a City Council member when he proposed cutting $7 million from the police department’s overtime budget.
Now, as he seeks a second, two-year term in District 7, his opponents are trying to put that decision on the ballot.
Eight people are competing for the seat — the most contested race in Dallas’ May 1 municipal election — and several of Bazaldua’s challengers are slamming him for the choice.
“I felt like it was pandering toward people who look like me in order to appear as if he was successful and accountable, which he was not,” said the Rev. Donald Parish Jr., who is Black.
Bazaldua, who is Latino, is the first non-Black person since a 1991 redistricting elected to represent District 7, which includes South Dallas, Fair Park and parts of East Dallas.
Mayor Eric Johnson on Monday endorsed Parish, founder of a youth mentorship nonprofit and a longtime friend. It was the second such endorsement for an opponent challenging an incumbent who supported the overtime cuts.
Also in the District 7 race are Kevin Felder, who held the seat for two years before losing the 2019 runoff to Bazaldua; two repeat candidates, attorney Calvin Johnson and James “JT” Turknett; and three first-time candidates: Israel Varela, a realtor; Tramonica Brown, activism and outreach nonprofit founder; and Walter “Changa” Higgins, a community organizer.
Parish’s campaign has raised the most money during the first quarter of the year — more than $33,300 — edging out Bazaldua by about $2,000, according to campaign finance reports. Brown has received almost $16,300 and Varela has tallied about $9,900. Both Higgins and Calvin Johnson have gotten just under $6,000 while Felder has raised a little over $1,000. Turknett’s campaign reported no contributions.
Bazaldua defended his approach to the city budget and his attempts to improve public safety.
He and a coalition of other council members eventually revised their overtime budget proposal. Originally, they wanted the $7 million cut from the police overtime budget to go toward initiatives like bike lanes, affordable housing and other areas, including adding some civilians to the police department. Under the new plan, the money was reinvested into the police department — as well as other public safety projects, like additional streetlights.
Bazaldua said his opponents are promoting a “false narrative.” The final budget change did not hurt patrol officers, he said, and ultimately the police budget grew.
The incumbent said he has been working with city officials to address public safety, like sending people to sober centers instead of arresting them for public intoxication and bogging down police resources.
“We have to be thoughtful and think about every angle that we can address public safety,” he said, “and not solely put all of the burden on law enforcement.”
Although crime in the district is down compared to last year, it still leads the city in violent offenses, according to police data. Of the 252 people in Dallas reported by police to have been killed last year, 50 of them were in District 7 — the highest of any area. The candidates said the persistent bloodshed in their district drove them to run for office.
About 35% of people live below the poverty line in 75210, the ZIP code that includes Fair Park and most of South Dallas. That’s more than double the citywide average, according to census data.
Parish, a pastor at True Lee Missionary Baptist Church, is running on his track record of community work in South Dallas, where he organizes free college visits for public school students and other forms of outreach. He said he knows the district’s issues intimately after being called upon to bury too many young Black men.
“I’m not a single-issue candidate, but if I was, this would be it,” Parish said. “Because I’m tired of putting Black bodies in the ground. Period.”
Johnson said the district would be well-served by having an attorney who grew up in Dixon Circle represent them in City Hall. He pledged to be a more visible presence in the district, faulting Bazaldua for not showing up enough to community events. The attorney said he often joins a Dallas Police officer at various barbershops to foster positive community relationships.
“I have relationships from the street all the way up to the district attorney’s office that I could use to try to alleviate some of our problems,” he said. “That’s my job.”
Brown, who started the nonprofit Not My Son last summer to advocate for accountability in the wake of police brutality, also said the city would benefit from more community collaboration and youth mentorship programs.
Not My Son staff and volunteers arranged for about 600 people displaced by the February ice storms to stay in hotels until their homes were repaired.
“That just shows that our city lacks accountability when it comes time to really start taking care of us,” Brown said. “We need somebody that’s going to sit in that seat and make sure that the district is OK.”
Felder is seeking the seat again to increase economic development in South Dallas.
“Everybody has been going to Plano, Frisco, Carrollton for jobs,” Felder said. “There’s enough available land and enough synergy in South Dallas, Fair Park and other areas in the southern sector that the jobs need to come this way.”
Felder was charged with accident involving injury in 2019 after allegations that he hit a scooter-rider in South Dallas with his car and then fled the scene.
Felder’s attorney, Pete Schulte, has said that “there was no collision,” and Felder confronted someone on a scooter for “zig-zagging” on Malcolm X Boulevard. No trial date has been set yet.
Varela said that when he knocks on doors while campaigning, people say they want to see a stronger law enforcement presence. Among his ideas for recruiting and retaining more police officers: A designated property tax credit, should they choose to live and work in Dallas.
“When police officers live in a community, they have a much more vested interest in the community,” he said.
Higgins said he was inspired by the civil unrest over the summer to enter the race. City leaders need to focus on the systemic issues that lead to crime, he said.
Increased police presence is a factor in recidivism and encourages people to seek out “alternatives” to normal jobs if they can’t stabilize their lives, he said. Deprioritizing “low-level, nonviolent” offenses could solve that problem, he said.
Turknett said the city needs to prioritize community-oriented policing. He said he would like to see officials open a Dallas Junior Police Academy in the 7th District.
“We want officers to become familiar with the young people,” he said, “and the young people to become familiar with the police officers.”
District 7 City Council candidates
- Adam Bazaldua (incumbent)
- Tramonica Brown
- Kevin Felder
- Walter “Changa” Higgins
- Calvin Johnson
- Donald Parish
- James “JT” Turknett
- Israel Varela
