Texas Democrats Colin Allred and Julie Johnson Head to Runoffs

WASHINGTON – Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas) and Democratic congressional candidate Colin Allred are headed to a runoff election after neither garnered enough votes to win outright in Tuesday night’s primary election.

Allred had a strong lead in the race, but failed to win more than 50% of the vote as two other Democratic contenders took votes away from him and Johnson. The two will now face each other exclusively in the second round of the elections on May 26.

Both are running to be the Democratic candidate for Texas’ 33rd congressional district, which republicans recently redrawn amid partisan redistricting. Johnson currently represents Congressional District 32, a Dallas-area community, and Allred jumped into the race in December after dropping a Senate bid.

Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas), who currently represents this district, is not running for re-election because the newly drawn map no longer includes a portion of Fort Worth, where he lives. This seat is solidly democratmeaning that whoever wins the runoff will almost certainly win the general election in November.

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They have been a testy primary. Allred previously endorsed Johnson in 2024, when she ran for the House seat he was leaving to run for the Senate. But they led combative campaigns against each other after Allred abruptly decided to run against her this time.

Johnson attacked Allred for voting in favor of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies and for being “dedicated to himself,” accusing him of launching a desperate House bid as a “consolation prize” after failing to advance his Senate campaign. Allred had filed to challenge Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), but dropped out after polls showed him behind other Democratic contenders such as Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico.

“Allred embodies the worst of today’s politics of ambition,” his campaign website reads.

Meanwhile, Allred went after Johnson for trading shares of Palantir, a company that works with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Voters can’t trust Julie Johnson to fight Donald Trump and ICE; they make her too much money,” her statement reads. campaign website.

(She responded that she I only won $90 of their jobs.)

Allred had more name recognition heading into this race and more money. It raised more than $5.4 million as of February 11 and had approximately $858,000 in cash on hand, per FEC Filings. Johnson raised more than $1.5 million as of Feb. 11 and had about $550,000 in cash on hand, per FEC Filings.