Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson didn’t draw an official challenger this year, but that didn’t stop voters from suggesting other options when they cast their ballots on May 6.
According to the unofficial totals provided by the Dallas County Election Department, 46,217 people voted in the mayor’s race. Johnson picked up 42,990 of those votes, about 93 percent. There were 3,227 write-in votes, and 552 of them were for certified write-in candidate Kendal Richardson.
The rest—all 2,675 of them—were for thousands of other options.
Certified write-in candidates can (potentially) win the mayoral seat, provided they get more votes than the other candidates. Uncertified candidates are just for fun.
Some voters decided to get creative since the mayor had his race well in hand. (His campaign sent the media an embargoed victory press release the morning of May 6, before most people had burned their toast and sliced oranges for soccer practice.)
We submitted an open records request for all 2,675 write-in names because this is a professional news organization. We ask the hard questions, to the point that county officials get really confused because nobody asked this hard question.
While we won’t print all 2,675 entries, you’ll immediately notice that there are some really silly ones: random fictional characters, dead people, and people that definitely don’t live in Dallas, like Mickey Mouse, Jesus Christ, Ronald Reagan, Deez Nuts, Ron Swanson, Kermit the Frog (who got a surprisingly large share of the write-in vote), Tammy, Bob, Willie Nelson, Vladamir Camacho, Poopy McPoopface, and J.R. Ewing.
There are also some pretty well-known Dallas names like Mark Cuban, Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, developer Peter Brodsky, former Dallas ISD superintendent (and previously rumored prospective mayoral candidate) Michael Hinojosa, Dirk Nowitzki, Roger Staubach, Erykah Badu, The Ticket’s Gordon Keith and George Dunham, former President George W. Bush, Old 97s frontman Rhett Miller, Troy Aikman, Luka Doncic, Tony Romo, and our lone Dallas Stars entry, Joe Pavelski.
Someone also nominated “CEO of the Mavericks,” which is an intriguing idea. Do they mean Cynt Marshall, or do they mean that any time the Mavs get a new CEO, Dallas gets a new mayor?
There were also local people: attorney JoDee Neil, former Dallas Morning News scribe Robert “Fingers of Fury” Wilonsky, author and longtime Dallas Observer columnist Jim Schutze, Doyle Rader, local marketing person Reagan Anderes, Your Mom, Dallas Parks Board members Jeff Kitner and Calvert Collins-Bratton, Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center founder Mark Melton, attorney Domingo Garcia, Paul Quinn College president Michael Sorrell, state Rep. Rafael Anchia, Dallas Plan Commissioner Melissa Kingston, state Sen. Royce West, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, Dallas ISD Trustee Joyce Foreman, Thanks-Giving Foundation Chief Engagement Officer Andy Stoker, owner of Alexandre’s bar in Oak Lawn Lee Daugherty, the mayor’s wife Nakita Johnson, and Friendship-West pastor Frederick D. Haynes.
Oh, and Tim Rogers, who gave us this official quote when I sent him a message on Teams letting him know of his mention: “I am humbled. And by ‘humbled’ I mean ‘more powerful than you can possibly imagine’ and also ‘Mickey Mouse can pound sand’ and ‘When you go to church, consider praying to me, along with Jesus, just to cover your bases.’”
Just about every current Dallas City Council member also got at least one write-in vote, and a few former members and mayors made appearances, including Jennifer Staubach Gates, Adam Medrano, Philip Kingston, Mike Rawlings, Laura Miller, Scott Griggs, Ron Kirk, Lee Kleinman, Dwaine Caraway, Tom Leppart, and Angela Hunt.
A few people you’ve seen on a ballot before were also named, including Candy Evans, Lauren Davis, Barry Wernick, and a handful of 2019 mayoral candidates.
And finally, because we know everyone wanted to know: There were two votes for “Bruh,” one vote for “I run the meeting,” and many, many variations of “anyone else,” “not him,” “anyone but him,” and “not that guy.”
With 2,675 write-ins, there’s a good chance a friend or neighbor is on the list. Want to check? Look below.
Dallas Mayoral Write in Candidates by goodmoine on Scribd
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