Monday was the filing deadline for a place on the March primary ballot and the Democratic primary field is now complete.
In the Tarrant County races, two Democratic party candidate filed for County Judge: Deborah Peoples and Marvin Sutton. County Commission Precinct 2 which covers most of Arlington drew two candidates for the Democratic primary: Alisa Simmons and Ruby Faye Woolridge. Three candidates will vie in the primary to be the Democratic party candidate for County Criminal District Attorney: Tiffany Burks, Lawrence “Larry” Meyers and Albert John Roberts. Lindsey Fagan is unopposed in the Democratic primary so she will face Republican Mary Louise Nicholson in the general election. Syed Hassan, also unopposed will square off against incumbent Republican Tom Wilder in the general.
In the State Senate primaries, Gwen Burud is unopposed in the Democratic primary and will face incumbent Republican, Kelly Hancock in the general election for Senate District 9 which represents much of North Arlington. State Senator Brian Birdwell is unopposed in the Republican primary and did not draw a Democratic opponent, so he will serve another term representing Senate District 22 which has a part of east Arlington and Euless. Senator Royce West who represents Senate District 23 does not have either a Republican or Democratic opponent, so he will serve another term in the State Senate. State Senator Beverly Powell, the Democratic party incumbent, has no primary challengers.
As far as House District 92, which is an open seat, there are three Democratic primary candidates: Salman Bhojani, Tracy Scott and Dinesh Sharma. The district covers most of HEB and parts of north Arlington. One Democratic party candidate filed in five Texas House Districts: KC Chowdhury in District 93, incumbent Chris Turner in District 101, Dennis Sherrard in District 94, incumbent Nicole Collier in District 95 and Mimi Coffey in District 99. No Democratic party member opted to run in District 96, so incumbent Republican, David Cook will return to Austin for a second session.
We encourage our members to get to know the candidates. Remember, primary elections in Texas are open to independents and to professed members of either party. You can be a Republican and vote in the Democratic party primary if you choose. Once you have voted in a primary, you are limited to voting with same party for any runoff elections.