May 2025 election aftermath

I waited to write this post until Monday under the assumption that we might get more analysis from Monday morning’s news. A few things were polished up (Frank Strong’s Bluesky thread is now in blog post form) but really there’s not a lot to say.

My takeaways were that first, as always, turnout in May elections is low, so the the side whose folks who are whipped up into the biggest froth win. Unsurprisingly in 2025, that’s Democrats and left-leaning folks. Second, it was a bad year to be a book banner. Frank Strong of Anger and Clarity has the throughline on that, comparing the election results to his Book-Lover’s Guide. LoneStarLeft also notes the trend against book haters. Third, a lot of incumbents in elections outside the school board races held on.

The big changes in Dallas and Fort Worth were in council elections where the incumbent retired or was termed out, or in bond elections. Frisco’s big arts bond went down, which wasn’t a surprise given the current economic situation, but a lot of the school bonds seem to have passed on the grounds that school districts better get their money while the getting is good. With vouchers coming, nobody knows what budgets will look like in a few years. Some of the Metroplex suburbs like Celina and Prosper are growing and will need new facilities. Those bond proposals made sense to voters even if the actual costs of the buildings may be more than anticipated due to tariffs and general inflation.

In Dallas, Mayor Johnson wasn’t on the ballot, and will be termed out the next time his office comes up. Incumbents held most of the seats, though we had three open: D6 in West Dallas, where Omar Narvaez was termed out, which his former staffer Laura Cadena won; D9, where Tennell Atkins was termed out, where we’ll see a runoff; and D11, where Jaynie Schultz retired, and which will also see a runoff. In Fort Worth, Mayor Mattie Parker is back for a third term; in the open D5 seat on the east side, former Tarrant Democratic Party chair Deborah Peoples emerged victorious in a six-person race; and in the open D6 seat on the southwest side, there will be a runoff. As in Dallas, the rest of the council seats were held by incumbents.

Of the school board elections, my favorite has to be Keller ISD, where one of the two board members not involved in the split plans was re-elected and the other was ousted. A third member of the board who was involved in the split chose not to run again. (Other members involved in the split plans weren’t on this year’s ballot.) Keller ISD is currently all at-large seat, but they’re under warning over that and may be sued if the school district doesn’t move to trustee districts.

I also agree with the DMN op-ed writer who thinks there’s no room in the middle any more. The middle in the Metroplex used to be the business Republican. Nobody likes those guys any more. Your choices are generally go MAGA, go left, or go home.