U.S. House Rep. Julie Johnson and former Rep. Colin Allred will face off in a May runoff election.
The Associated Press called the runoff around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday with an estimated 92% of the votes counted. The latest vote tallies from Dallas County showed Allred had 44% of the vote and Johnson had 33%.
Carlos Quintanilla, a Dallas activist who's run for District 33 previously, got 14% of the vote. Zeeshan Hafeez, an entrepreneur and salesman who ran on a progressive campaign, had 8.5% of the vote.
In Texas, a candidate must get 50% of the votes plus one. The race goes to a runoff if no candidate meets that threshold.
Allred previously represented the neighboring House District 32 from 2019 to 2025 before being succeeded by Johnson. Allred made an unsuccessful run against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024 rather than run for reelection at the time.
Allred was a civil rights lawyer and an NFL player, and worked in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Obama administration before becoming a congressman.
During his time in office, Allred was a member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, where he supported legislation that saw the creation of at least two new health care centers for veterans in Dallas County. As a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, he also advocated for more investment into the North Texas region.
He ran his campaign this time with a big focus on passing anti-corruption legislation and affordability.
"As we head into the May 26th runoff, our campaign is only growing stronger," Allred said in a statement to KERA. "Dallas families are struggling with the cost of groceries, gas, and housing, and they need someone in Congress who shows up for them - that's exactly why I’m fighting to represent us in Washington."
Johnson has represented the neighboring District 32 since 2025 when she succeeded Allred.
She's currently a vice ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, where she has heavily criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns and questioned immigration officials. She also introduced legislation to limit qualified immunity for federal law enforcement officers, including those in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The matchup between predecessor and successor came after Texas legislators redrew U.S. House District seats last year to be more Republican friendly. The redistricting led to a musical chairs-like shuffling of Democratic candidates, each scrambling for the remaining Democratic-friendly districts.
Johnson’s District 32 was one of the impacted districts, so she pivoted to running for District 33. It was the most geographically similar district with an incumbent not running for reelection.
The District 33 incumbent, Marc Veasey, decided not to run again because the district was redrawn to exclude Fort Worth, where he lives.
Allred ran for District 33 after dropping out of the Democratic U.S. Senate primary after U.S. House Rep. Jasmine Crockett threw her hat in the ring. Allred said he wanted to avoid a run-off election between him, Crockett and Texas Rep. James Talarico.
Dylan Duke is KERA's Breaking News Reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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