The runoff election is May 26.
DALLAS — After months of campaigning for both the primary and the runoff, the finish line is finally in sight for the candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for the 33rd District in Dallas.
Former Congressman Colin Allred will take on U.S. Representative Julie Johnson in the runoff and we asked Allred where he thinks the race stands as we close in on election day.
Allred says getting folks back out to vote is the name of the game in a runoff.
“They’ve already voted once in this election. We have school coming to an end. We have the holiday coming up and the holiday weekend. So, I recognize that we’re up against a number of competing factors,” Allred told us on Inside Texas Politics. “But I feel good. I feel good about everything I’ve been hearing and seeing in the community, the efforts that we’re putting to turn out the vote. And we’re just going to do everything we possibly can.”
Allred had some momentum coming out of the primary after he defeated Johnson by more than 7,700 votes, 44% – 33%.
While there were reportedly tens of thousands of new voters in the Democratic primary thanks to enthusiasm surrounding the Democratic race for U.S. Senate at the top of the ballot, Allred says he’s not reliant on those new voters.
And he’s leaning on his experience from a previous runoff in 2018 when he was first elected to Congress.
“I feel confident that Dallas knows me and I think we saw that in the first round of the election where we won by double digits. And so, we just have to get folks back out to vote, let them know there’s another election,” he said.
We also asked Allred to sum up the race and tell voters why they should choose him over Johnson.
“I think there’s our conduct in office. I don’t trade stock. I don’t take corporate PAC money. She does both,” Allred argued in his final pitch. “But I think it’s also just true that I have a record of delivering, creating the Garland VA from nothing, working with the Trump Administration at that time to even get that done, but also delivering $135 million worth of investment to this district.”
Listen to the full interview with former Congressman Allred to hear why he wants to abolish ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), whether he regrets endorsing Johnson as his successor in 2024, and how he would fight against gerrymandering.
While the 33rd District is drawn to favor Democrats, a couple of Republicans will face each other in the runoff, as Patrick Gillespie, who led in the primary, takes on John Sims.
The runoff election is Tuesday, May 26.