Judge Clay Jenkins issued endorsements to four candidates on March 9, all four of whom are Democrats running for County positions.
The move was an uncommon one for Jenkins.
“Those of you who have followed what I’ve done in endorsements in the past, I generally don’t endorse in-County races,” Jenkins said in a live Zoom meeting. “I do my endorsing in school board and college district races, but you know, this last year, we really had to pull together as a team.”
Jenkins began by endorsing two incumbents who made it through the State’s primary election held on March 1.
The first was John Warren, currently the county clerk and running to retain his position. He faces a challenge from Ann Cruz, Dallas County’s current court coordinator. Warren received 37.53% of cast ballots against 34.06% recorded in favor of Cruz.
Jenkins called Warren an “innovator” for his work in transforming the way the Dallas Courts functioned during the pandemic, praising his efforts to create a better-functioning court system.
“John made Dallas County the first paperless county, and that became really, really crucial,” Jenkins said. “It’s really transformed the way that people are able to practice law because of his work, [to] go to their hearings, whether it be on the criminal side or the civil side, [and] be able to use things like [paperless filings].”
The second incumbent that Jenkins endorsed during the Zoom meeting was Juan Jasso, who came within only a few percentage points of defeating two challengers for the Justice of the Peace spot. Jasso will face Desmond Cooks in the runoff, who edged out the third-place finisher by only 149 votes but was 4,592 votes behind Jasso.
“Judge Jasso has followed the law, and he has worked with these third parties, whether it be the navigators we have placed from the County or the courts, or the charities,” Jenkins said. “He has worked with them to keep people in their homes, which is good for landlords who obviously need to get paid, and people who aren’t thrown out of their homes during a global pandemic.”
Jenkins also endorsed two challengers to incumbents, including one who is running against a Democrat incumbent.
His first endorsement was for Andrew Sommerman, running to replace incumbent Republican J.J. Koch, who ran unopposed for the Republican ticket.
Sommerman was the attorney who took up the gauntlet in the fight against Governor Greg Abbott over the ability of public agencies like schools to create and enforce masking mandates during the pandemic.
Jenkins also said that he is endorsing Atalia Garcia Williams, who took slightly more than 28% of the tallied votes in a crowded field led by Democrat sitting Justice of the Peace for Precinct 2, Place 1 Margaret O’Brian, who garnered 31.81% of the votes.
“I am taking a sort of unprecedented step in endorsing Atalia because I don’t think I have ever endorsed against one of our sitting Democrats,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins decided to offer his endorsement after meeting with numerous people who have interacted with Williams through her work as an attorney representing small businesses, landowners and landlords, and people facing eviction.
Of the four candidates Jenkins endorsed, only Sommerman failed to gain the highest vote total in races where no one reached 50.1% of the votes. Warren will face a Democrat in the runoff but will not face a challenger on the Republican side.
The runoff election will take place on May 7, while the special runoff will occur on May 24. The final election will be November 8, 2022.
