Coppell Chronicle Vol. 5, No. 43
Hernandez Draws Challenger from Coppell • Trustees to Discuss New Attendance Zones • Naterra’s Headquarters Plans Pass Muster • Former Mayor’s Family Nominated for Honor
As I’m crafting your favorite newsletter each week, I consistently get this warning from Substack: “Post too long for email.” Last week was the first time I can recall that warning leading to a consequence. The version that landed in my inbox last Sunday was clipped, with a “Continue reading” button added near the end. At least one subscriber had the same experience.
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Hernandez Draws Challenger from Coppell
For the second time in as many election cycles, Cassandra Hernandez will tangle with a Republican from Coppell.
Hernandez (CassandraForTexas.com) is in her first term representing the vast majority of Coppell and Coppell ISD in the Texas House. She won the vacant District 115 seat last year by besting Scarlett Cornwallis and Kate Rumsey in the Democratic primary before defeating John Jun, a former member of the Coppell City Council, in the general election. Hernandez earned 54 percent of the votes to Jun’s 46 percent.
Her opponent in the 2026 general election will be Danny Rosellini, a 30-year resident of Coppell who is making his first run for public office and does not yet have a campaign website. He and I have not had a chance to talk, because he was traveling last week, but Rosellini told me via email that he’s a former corporate executive, small business owner, and investor.
When I reached out to Hernandez for comment, she sent me a lengthy statement. Here’s an excerpt, but you can read the entire thing at the bottom of this edition: “From the first day of my campaign in June 2023, I ran this race with the mindset that this seat isn’t promised to anyone — it belongs to the people of House District 115. I worked hard, showed up, and was honored to earn the trust of our district and be elected to serve in the 89th Legislature. … I hope my work reflects how seriously I take this responsibility, and I hope to earn the trust of our community once again to serve proudly in the 90th Legislature.”1
Hernandez and Rosellini were the only candidates for the District 115 seat when the filing period for the March primary elections ended on Dec. 8. What follows is a roundup of candidates in the other legislative and congressional districts that overlap with Coppell’s city limits and/or the boundaries of Coppell ISD.
House District 63
Republican Ben Bumgarner (VoteBumgarner.com) is in his second term representing a district that includes the Denton County portion of Coppell, and he’s filed to run again. The only other candidate is Democrat Denise Wooten (Wooten-For-Texas.com), who ran for this seat last year but lost to Michelle Beckley in the primary.
House District 105
Democrat Terry Meza (TerryMeza.com) is in her fourth term representing a district that includes the southern end of Coppell ISD. She’ll automatically get a fifth term because she drew no challengers from either party.
Congressional District 24
Republican Beth Van Duyne (BethForTexas.com) is seeking a fourth term representing District 24, which encompasses the Dallas County portion of Coppell. She has no primary challengers from the GOP, but three Democrats have thrown their hats in the ring: Jon Buchwald (CitizensForJon.com), Kevin Burge (BurgeForCongress.com), and TJ Ware (ElectTJ.com).
Congressional District 33
Democrat Julie Johnson (JulieJohnson.com) represented House District 115 in the Texas Legislature for three terms before being elected to Congress last year. Johnson represents District 32, which was mostly in Dallas County, with a little bit of spillover into Collin and Denton counties. But under the new map approved by the Texas Legislature this year, only the northern edge of Dallas County (minus Coppell) and a smidgeon of Collin County are in District 32; the rest of the district encompasses five other counties (Camp, Rains, Rockwall, Upshur, and Wood) plus half of Hunt County. No Democrat has a realistic shot at winning that version of the district.
Consequently, Johnson has filed to run in District 33, which is now entirely within Dallas County and encompasses Valley Ranch. Johnson will compete with her predecessor in District 32, Colin Allred (ColinAllred.com), who pivoted from his second campaign for the U.S. Senate after Jasmine Crockett entered that fray.
There are two other Democrats vying for the District 33 seat: Zeeshan Hafeez (ZeeshanForTexas.com) and Carlos Quintanilla, a perennial candidate who does not have a functional website but does have a record of yelling at me.
(Democrat Marc Veasey is in his seventh term representing District 33, but Veasey’s political base is Fort Worth, which has been drawn out of his district. So he is stepping away from Congress and running for Tarrant County Judge.)
The Republican field in District 33 features five candidates: Patrick David Gillespie (PatrickGillespie4Congress33.com), Payton Jackson (NoTaxingWithJackson.com), Monte “Doc” Mitchell (whose website I could not find; what’s up, Doc?), Kurt Schwab (KurtSchwab4Congress.com), and John Sims (VoteJohnSims.com).
Congressional District 6
The new version of District 6 — which encompasses Ellis and Navarro counties plus portions of Johnson and Tarrant counties — snakes into Dallas County far enough to include Parkside East, an Irving subdivision within Coppell ISD.
Republican Jake Ellzey (EllzeyForTexas.com), who is in his third term representing District 6, has drawn two primary challengers: James Buford (VoteBuford4Congress.com) and Brian Stahl (StahlForTexas.com). Only one Democrat is seeking this seat, and that’s Danny Minton (DannyMinton.com).
Congressional District 26
Republican Brandon Gill (BrandonGillForCongress.com), who is in his first term representing the district that includes the Denton County portion of Coppell, has a primary challenger named Robert Chick (StickWithChick.org).
Ernest Lineberger (LinebergerForUSCongress.com), who was the only Democratic candidate in this district last year, is making another run at it, but he’ll have to get past Steven Shook (ShookForCongress2026.com) in the primary.
Other filings of interest
• Three years ago, former Coppell ISD Trustee Tracy Fisher ran for the District 14 seat on the State Board of Education as a Democrat. She lost to Republican Evelyn Brooks of Frisco, who is among 10 candidates challenging Gov. Greg Abbott in the GOP primary. Mindy Bumgarner (MindyBumgarner.com), who ran for a seat on the Lewisville ISD Board of Trustees in 2023 and is married to the aforementioned state representative, is one of two Republicans from Flower Mound vying to succeed Brooks; the other is Christine Malaguti (ChristineForDistrict14.com). A Democrat named Amy Taylor (AmyTaylorForTexas.com) is also running.
• Democrat Nathan Johnson (NathanForTexas.com) represents the southern end of Coppell ISD in the Texas Senate; his district included all of Coppell before the previous round of redistricting. Johnson is one of three Democrats running for Texas Attorney General. The others are Tony Box (TonyBoxForTexas.com) and Joe Jaworski (JaworskiForTexas.com). Four Republicans are also in the running: Joan Huffman (JoanHuffman.com), Mayes Middleton (MayesMiddleton.com), Aaron Reitz (ReitzForTexas.com), and Chip Roy (ChipRoy.com).
• Republican Don Huffines (DonHuffines.com) represented Coppell in the Texas Senate for one term (2015-2019), until he was ousted by Nathan Johnson. Huffines is among four Republicans vying to succeed Glenn Hegar as Texas Comptroller; the others are Mike Berlanga (Mike-Berlanga-For-Texas-Comptroller7d883678.multiscreensite.com)2, Christi Craddick (ChristiCraddick.com), and Kelly Hancock (KellyHancock.com), who has been filling the role on an interim basis since Hegar was named chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. The Democrats competing for the Comptroller’s office are Sarah Eckhardt (SarahEckhardt.com), Michael Lange (TexansForLange.com), and Savant Moore (SavantMoore.com).
• Republican Morgan Meyer (MorganMeyerForTexas.com) was first elected to the Texas House in 2014, and he has repeatedly introduced legislation that would take tens of millions of dollars away from Coppell. (See “City Leaders Testify Against Sales Tax Shift” in Vol. 5, No. 5.) Meyer is facing a primary challenge from fellow University Park resident Sanjay Narayan (SanjayForTexas.com). One of them will compete against Democrat Allison Mitchell (AllisonMitchellForTexas.com) in November.
• Finally, Coppell resident Nicholas Palmer (PalmerForJustice.com) is a Democrat running for the Place 8 seat on the Fifth District Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over appeals from courts in Collin, Dallas, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. That seat is occupied by Dennise Garcia, a Democrat who was elected in 2020 but is retiring. Palmer will face Andrea Plumlee (PlumleeForJudge.com) in the primary, and one of them will square off with Republican Ashley Wysocki (whose website eluded me) in the general election. Abbott has appointed Wysocki to vacant judgeships three times; she lost each of those seats to Democrats in the ensuing elections.
Trustees to Discuss New Attendance Zones
The Dec. 15 meeting of the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees will include a discussion of a boundary realignment plan. These two maps are attached to the trustees’ agenda.
Those maps helpfully include the current boundary lines. To my four eyes, it looks like the only proposed changes to the elementary zones involve drawing two apartment complexes — Anthem Valley Ranch and Devi at Valley Ranch — out of the Valley Ranch Elementary School zone and reassigning them to Mockingbird Elementary and Lakeside Elementary, respectively.