DCDP ExecCom Endorses Ed Oakley For Mayor

At Saturday's quarterly meeting of the Dallas County Democratic Party Executive Committee, the Precinct Chairs present voted to endorse Dallas City Councilman Ed Oakley for Mayor in the June 16 runoff election. The ExecCom had made no endorsement in the May primary, since there was more than one Democratic candidate running for this office (and various Democratic local organizations supported three different candidates).

Now there are only two people left in the race. Even though this is theoretically a "non-partisan" race, there is a clear difference between the two. While Oakley is a long-time active Democrat, his opponent has been a contributor to George W. Bush and to the Republican Party. You can read more about Oakley's campaign at his web site.

[Under the party rules, since party affiliations are not listed on this city ballot, this is still only a non-binding recommendation. However, it would be safe to say that it is a very strong endorsement, passed with no opposition.]

Other Runoffs June 16

Garland also has a runoff for Mayor, and Cedar Hill and Richardson each have a runoff for a Council seat, but Dallas has four Council runoffs besides the Mayor's race. Those are in districts 3, 5, 7, and 8. The DCDP ExecCom did not make endorsements in any of those races. Candidates supported by one or more local Democratic organizations (the Stonewall Democrats, the Young Democrats, or PVL-A New Era) did make it to the runoff in the first three of those runoffs. You can find the details about endorsements at this page. The full list of which candidates are in Runoffs is posted by the Elections Department at this pdf page.

Early Voting

This time the Early Voting for the June 16 Runoff will last only nine days. Polls for Early Voting will be open from 8 to 5 on Monday June 4 through Saturday June 9, from 1 to 6 PM on Sunday June 10, and then from 7 AM to 7 PM on Monday June 11 and Tuesday June 12. The polls will also be open on Saturday June 16 from 7 AM to 7 PM, but on that day you will have to vote in your own home precinct. Early Voting locations (which sometimes are different for Runoffs) will be posted later on the Dallas County Elections web site.

Petitioning At The Polls

At Early Voting or on Election Day you may encounter volunteers circulating petitions. Some of them may be our own 2008 judicial candidates, who have already begun collecting the required names so that they can get on the ballot in next year's primary. Some of these are incumbents, and some are very promising prospects. The law requires this, so please help out some good Democrats.

One other group will be out with clipboards, trying to get a referendum on the ballot about the city's Trinity River project. Signing their petition only says the people should be able to vote on the now-much changed program. For statements for and against this effort from a current and former Council members, see page three of the current issue of the Stonewall Democrats newsletter at this pdf. You can read more about the petition effort (including news stories linked), or volunteer to help, at their web site, TrinityVote.com.