We’re a little over two months away from electing the first new mayor of Dallas in the past eight years. Nine people are (officially) running. That’s a lot of people, although it’s not Chicago, which has 14. (And, apparently a “record-low” turnout of 19 percent as of 1 p.m. today, which is still three times the 6.7 percent who voted in our last mayoral election in 2015. Which only shows this race needs all the publicity it can get.)
The question we’ve been bouncing around the office is how to cover this in a way that brings you, the readers, into it. We’ve decided on the most time-trusted widgets in all of Internet journalism: the poll. But we’ll be doing a bit more with it. Every week, each reader will have the chance to cast one (1) vote for the candidate of their choosing. We’ll tally those up, re-rank, and post an update each Monday. We’ll add details for every candidate about their week, both light and heavy. Did Miguel Solis hit three churches in southern Dallas this weekend? Did another one of Lynn McBee’s top endorsements moderate a mayoral forum? Did Jason Villalba campaign to another piece of furniture? Did Eric Johnson get a bill through committee in the Legislature?
The aim is to try and capture the pulse of what you’re thinking, but also give some space to bits that wouldn’t always warrant their own posts on their own. By the end of these two-ish months, we’ll name an unofficial mayor before Election Day. We’ll also have a lot of information for a wrap-up before the polls open. We hope this will be a fun and informative project that you’ll follow through to the end.
This post will be updated, and we’ll be archiving what we write and how you vote so it doesn’t disappear every week. Do you have any tips on something we should look into? Tweets? Mayoral forums? Fundraisers? Controversies minor and major? We want it all. Email me here or Shawn Shinneman. Tim Rogers will pop in from time to time too, and you can also email him.
With that, here is our first poll of the season. Yes it’s on Tuesday, but this will be the only Tuesday. Just so we give you a full workweek to consider your choices before Election Day on Saturday, May 4. The order below is the order the candidates will appear on the ballot, per a draw yesterday at City Hall. Good luck to all. We look forward to following the race. It may wind up being the most important in the city’s history.
Head here for detailed biographies of each of the candidates.
