DALLAS — The next chair of the Dallas County Republican Party will have their work cut out for them.
Dallas County is the second-most populous county in Texas, ninth-most in the United States, with around 2.4 million people.
It is the political inversion of statewide politics, with Democrats controlling all countywide offices. And there are only two Republicans, Angie Chen Button and Morgan Meyer, in the Texas House.
In the March 5 primary, two candidates are running for the position, incumbent Jennifer Stoddard-Hajdu and former Congressman and chair of the statewide Republican party Allen West.
“I don’t see this as, you know, stepping down or anything. I see it as the Republican party has really lost its focus on local level politics,” West told us on Inside Texas Politics.
West argues that Dallas County Republicans can find success if they first find good candidates to run and improve their political infrastructure.
He says the party first needs to fill hundreds of precinct chair positions, the very folks who often recruit candidates for local races.
West says that’s necessary, so the party’s ground game improves, and they have a chance to win some countywide offices.
“Going into 2024, we’ve got 75% of the countywide elections that are unopposed. There’s only one Republican that is running countywide, and that’s county commission seat number one, Jason Metcalf. We’ve got 73% of our judicial races that are unopposed,” West said. “So, I think first and foremost, we’ve got to go back and start looking at and training, like as I said, those good, quality candidates that can go out there and deliver our message first and foremost.”
Other headlines: