1. No one cares. Even where turnout was heaviest – abut 20 percent in District 13, where Jennifer Staubach Gates beat Leland Burk – it still wasn’t much. And some of the totals in the contested races were embarrassing – 1,423 in Pleasant Grove and 909 in west Dallas’ district 6. Countywide, turnout was 7 percent.
2. The Dallas Cowboys are the most important thing to ever happen to the city of Dallas. Ever. In its history. Ever. That Roger Staubach’s daughter could handily beat the well-financed Burk, who was endorsed by the popular Mitch Rasansky, says all we need to know about the cultural role the Cowboys play in this city. I will leave it to others, more educated in these things, to decide what that means.
3 . Soon to be former councilwoman Angela Hunt has a legacy. Philip Kingston, whom she endorsed to replace her in East Dallas’ District 14, will face the downtown elite’s candidate, Bobby Abtahi, in a runoff on June 15. Kingston led the field on Saturday, taking about 34 percent of the vote against the better-financed and heavily- endorsed Abtahi. I wouldn’t bet against Kingston next month.
4. North Oak Cliff’s Scott Griggs has a future in Dallas politics, and he will be mentioned when people start talking about the 2015 mayoral race. It’s not so much that he beat Delia Jasso, another incumbent, in District 1. It’s that he ran a smart campaign and won easily, with almost 61 percent of the vote in a race the downtown elite wanted him to lose.