The Dallas City Council has officially approved a runoff election for District 3 between Zarin Gracey and Joe Tave after no candidate earned a majority vote in the May 6 general election.
An ordinance ordering the runoff election to be held on June 10 was approved by council members during a Wednesday council briefing.
In the general election, the candidate who earned the most votes was Zarin Gracey, who is endorsed by current District 3 Council Member Casey Thomas II.
Thomas has reached his term limit and was consequently unable to run for office again in this election cycle.
Gracey earned 46% of the votes in his district, but at least 50% is needed to claim victory in the general election. If no candidate receives at least half of the vote, a runoff election is called.
Candidate Joe Tave came in second place, winning 25% of the vote. District 3 voters will have the opportunity to choose between Tave and Gracey on June 10.
The District 3 race was the most crowded in the Dallas general election, with five candidates for voters to choose from. The other three candidates were John Sims, Denise Benavides, and August Doyle, who earned 14%, 10%, and 3%, respectively.
In most of the recent Dallas City Council races, the incumbent candidates won re-election, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Gracey has previously said his highest priorities include economic development and public safety.
He told The Dallas Express that homelessness is “an issue we definitely need to address, and one of the ways we do that is identifying those organizations that are already taking the lead on this.”
“Not takeover [by the City], but in partnership, so that we can address it from our unique, different perspectives,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Tave emphasized to The Dallas Express his commitment to representing the “diversity” of District 3.
“This district does not belong to an individual,” he said. “It belongs to the people.”
