I hereby offer my reporter-ly endorsement—wholehearted!—that campaign endorsements are to be grouped together and sent out in one nice email each week, perhaps in a newsletter with a few amusing gifs and quips. I mean, sheesh. We thought last week was busy. Yesterday, Eric Johnson added former state Sen. John Carona and state Rep. Dan Huberty, both republicans. The Real Estate Council—TREC—put their support behind Johnson today.
And then this afternoon, his campaign called reporter types out to the rooftop of the CANVAS Hotel in the Cedars, where you walked in and saw Mayor Mike Rawlings and a bunch of current Council members standing around a podium, the skyline as their backdrop.
In endorsing Johnson, Rawlings said he saw in the candidate someone who believed in the “bigness” of Dallas, contrasting that against Griggs’ discussion at a debate on Monday about starting small at a neighborhood level. He also says Johnson can unite the people around the horseshoe to get things done.
“With a city manager form of government, it’s a team effort to make sure that we accomplish the things that we accomplish,” he said.
The list of newly re-elected Council members who surrounded Rawlings, and endorsed Johnson: Casey Thomas, Jennifer Staubach Gates, Lee Kleinman, Adam McGough, and Tennell Atkins.
Those currently in runoffs to rejoin the Council: Carolyn King Arnold.
Outgoing: Rickey Callahan.
One by one, they took the podium to speak their two cents. And one by one, they “wholeheartedly” endorsed Johnson. Not a single one didn’t make sure to say that word. Nobody provided their “complete and total support” or their “sincerest sign-off.” Nobody threw around their “zealous backing” or tossed in their “spirited advocacy.”
Much of the rest of the current Council back Scott Griggs: Councilman Philip Kingston, who’s in a scrap to regain his seat, as well as the freshly re-minted Omar Narvaez and Adam Medrano. Griggs also has the support of Mark Clayton, who decided not to seek a third term, and Sandy Greyson, who is term-limiting out.
