Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 52
Democrats Have Tough Choice to Make • Slates are Set for Municipal Elections • Coppell to Help Homeowners With Grants • Tragedy’s Anniversary Marked With Love
Quick question: What do Ryan L. Binkley, Gabriel A. Cornejo, Star Locke, Frankie Lozada, Armando “Mando” Perez-Serrato, David Stuckenberg, and Cenk Uygur have in common?
Quicker answer: They are all running for President.
To be clear, all of those folks are running for President of the United States of America. And they are all seeking your vote this year. Although none of them has a snowball’s chance in hell of ever occupying the Oval Office, you can still check a box next to one of their names as early as Tuesday morning. That’s when voting begins for the March 5 primaries.
If you reside in Dallas County, click here to preview your ballot. Denton County residents can click here to do the same.
Democrats Have Tough Choice to Make
When The Dallas Morning News offered an endorsement in Texas House District 115, the editorial began with this: “Our state’s democracy would be much stronger if every race had candidates with the solid credentials and political commitment that both Cassandra Hernandez and Kate Rumsey are bringing to the Democratic Primary in District 115.”
The newspaper’s editorial board gave the nod to Rumsey due to her history of government service. Rumsey has also been endorsed by one current and one former member of the Texas House, three Dallas City Council members (and one former member), one Fort Worth City Council member, and a variety of organizations, including VoteVets, New Politics, and Mothers Against Greg Abbott.
Hernandez has an even lengthier list of endorsements. She’s backed by at least four Texas House representatives, three Dallas County commissioners, a former Dallas ISD superintendent, a former Carrollton mayor, and several organizations, including the Texas Association of Realtors, the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, and multiple labor unions.
There’s a third candidate in this primary. Unlike her rivals, Scarlett Cornwallis does not tout any endorsements on her website or on her social media. When I examined the candidates’ campaign finances last month, I learned that Cornwallis reported barely any contributions other than a $20,000 loan from herself.
(See “Aspiring State Legislators Detail Their Finances” in Vol. 3, No. 48)
Cornwallis declined to be interviewed by the Morning News, and she also missed the deadline for the Coppell Chronicle’s short questionnaire. Those missteps ought to tell you how serious she is about this campaign. Download this PDF to review the answers provided by Hernandez and Rumsey:
All three Democratic candidates showed up at the Coppell Arts Center on Tuesday for an education-focused forum hosted by Raise Your Hand Texas. The audience included five Coppell ISD trustees and at least three Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD trustees. You can watch a video of that event here.
The winner of this primary will face Coppell Mayor Pro Tem John Jun in November. He will win the Republican primary by default due to a lack of opponents. The District 115 seat is open because state Rep. Julie Johnson is vying to succeed U.S. Rep. Colin Allred in Congressional District 32, where Johnson’s nine rival Democrats include Cornwallis’ husband, Alex Cornwallis, and Jan McDowell, a three-time nominee in Congressional District 24.
This year’s Democratic candidates in District 24 are Sam Eppler and Francine Ly. Video footage of their Jan. 23 forum in Grapevine is available here. One of them will face incumbent Rep. Beth Van Duyne in November.
Slates are Set for Municipal Elections
When Nichole Bentley ran for an open seat on the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees in 2018, I was one of the two rivals she steamrolled on her path to victory. I’d give that experience one out of five stars. Would not recommend.
Although Bentley went unchallenged in 2021, she’ll have to deal with a lone competitor this year. Eneida Padró declared her candidacy for the Place 6 seat on Friday, the last day of the filing period. Padró’s name was unfamiliar to me, but her paperwork say she has lived in the district for more than 15 years. She told me via email that she’s the proud mom of a pre-kindergarten student in Wilson Elementary’s Dual Language Immersion program.
“My commitment to Coppell ISD goes beyond my family,” Padró said. “It is grounded in a deep passion for education and the families in our community.”
(For the record, Bentley’s family includes two Coppell High School graduates and two New Tech High graduates.)
Coppell ISD Trustee Jobby Mathew did not draw any challengers, so he’ll win his first three-year term without having to activate his lightsaber. He was appointed by the other trustees in the fall of 2022, then went unchallenged in a 2023 special election to fulfill the remainder of Tracy Fisher’s term.
Coppell Mayor Wes Mays did not draw any challengers this year, nor did the other three incumbents on the City Council: Brianna Hinojosa-Smith, Biju Mathew, and Kevin Nevels. Coppell voters will choose whether Freddie Guerra or Ramesh Premkumar gets to fulfill the remainder of John Jun’s term, which ends in 2026.
Here’s what will be on the May 4 municipal ballots in the other cities and school districts that overlap with Coppell and Coppell ISD.
CITY OF IRVING
A big chunk of Coppell ISD is in Irving, and City Council Member Al Zapanta represents most of that chunk. Zapanta was unchallenged three years ago, but fellow Army veteran Khalid Khan threw his hat in the ring on Friday. Dennis Webb, who occupies one of the council’s two at-large seats, did not draw any challengers. (CORRECTION added on March 5: Webb has a challenger named Khaleel Ahmed.) Irving voters will also mull a $20 million bond proposal that would finance a new City Hall.
(See “Irving Voters to Consider New City Hall” in Vol. 3, No. 51.)
CARROLLTON-FARMERS BRANCH ISD
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD conducts its elections via cumulative voting. Because two seats will be on the ballot, each voter will get two votes, and you can vote for the same candidate twice if you really want that person to win. Trustee Sally Derrick is stepping down after two terms, so Board President Cassandra Hatfield will compete with three newcomers: Marjorie Barnes, Paul Gilmore, and Luis Palomo.
CITY OF DALLAS
Voters who reside in Cypress Waters will consider 10 bond propositions that would allow Dallas to borrow up to $1.25 billion (yes, billion with a b) to fund various projects, including roads, parks, libraries, and public-safety facilities.
CITY OF LEWISVILLE
Mayor TJ Gilmore will have to vanquish three rivals to secure a second term; he’ll face Alexander Davis, Winston Edmondson, and Tiffany Karim. And Council Member William Meridith also drew multiple challengers; he’ll contend with Penny Mallet and Ainsley Stelling. Lewisville voters will also consider four bond propositions with a total value of $263.4 million.
(See “Lewisville Expected to Call Bond Election” in Vol. 3, No. 44)
LEWISVILLE ISD
This district’s ballot presents a couple of head-scratchers, from this reporter’s perspective. Last November, Lewisville ISD voters rejected three bond propositions that would have financed stadiums, natatoriums, and other athletics facilities. On Monday, the Board of Trustees unanimously decided to ask voters to reconsider those propositions. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, I guess.
Meanwhile, Lewisville ISD is transitioning from a system in which elected officials can reside anywhere in the district — as they can in the City of Coppell and Coppell ISD — to a system that features a mix of at-large and geographically specific seats, as the City of Irving does.
(See “Lewisville ISD Alters Election Procedures” in Vol. 3, No. 28)
Four of the current trustees reside in District 1, including Buddy Bonner and Allison Lassahn, the only trustees whose terms end this year. Lassahn declared her candidacy for the District 1 seat on the first day of the filing period, while Bonner filed for the at-large Place 6 seat on the second day. Hunky-dory, easy-peasy, right?
Not so fast. On the final day of the filing period, Trustee Michelle Alkhatib said she’s running for the District 1 seat. This threw me for a loop, because Alkhatib was elected for the first time last year. Her term doesn’t end until May of 2026. When I emailed her to ask what’s up, she explained that, as a resident of District 1, she would not be eligible to seek reelection until 2027. So she’s trying to switch seats now to avoid a one-year gap in her eligibility. She described this as a “strategic decision” in a statement on her website.
I asked Alkhatib whether she would be able to continue serving until 2026 if she loses to Lassahn this year. She believes she would.
Lassahn told me she didn’t find out until Friday afternoon that she’d be competing with a fellow incumbent. Lassahn said Alkhatib later informed her and the other trustees that she’d been contemplating the matter for weeks.
“I suspect that Ms. Alkhatib made the decision so quickly that she hasn’t considered some of the broader implications of this unorthodox candidacy,” Lassahn said. “I will be encouraging her to look at some of the complications created if she vacates her seat for purely political reasons, and reconsider before the withdrawal deadline of February 23.”
Early voting for the May 4 elections will begin on April 22. The voter registration deadline is April 4.
Coppell to Help Homeowners With Grants
Before I say anything else about my next topic, let me say this: DIBS!
The City of Coppell is about to dole out “residential rehabilitation grants” of up to $10,000 to help homeowners refurbish their properties. Only homes that are at least 30 years old are eligible. As the owner of a 41-year-old house that could use some work, I am very interested in this initiative.