Former Rep. Colin Allred has unseated Rep. Julie Johnson in a Democratic primary runoff, NBC News projects, after he dropped out of the Senate race last year and made a run for a House seat reshaped by redistricting.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
The primary in the deep blue 33rd District in the Dallas area grew competitive after Allred left the Senate race in deference to Rep. Jasmine Crockett, instead opting to run for the House.
Allred finished well ahead of Johnson, 44%-33%, in the first-round primary on March 3, with the race going to a runoff because no one got majority support.
Allred also got support from attorney Zeeshan Hafeez and business owner Carlos Quintanilla, who finished behind him and Johnson in the initial primary.
Johnson replaced Allred in a different district in 2024, when he first ran for the Senate and lost to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz that November. Allred’s decision to run against his successor made for an “awkward” dynamic, Johnson told NBC News this year.
Allred, an attorney and former professional football player, served in the Obama administration and ran for Congress in 2018. He flipped a longtime red seat in the Dallas suburbs in that year’s “blue wave” before he tried and failed to make the jump to the Senate six years later.
He started another run for the Senate last year before he dropped out as Crockett jumped into the race. Crockett then lost the Democratic Senate nomination to state Rep. James Talarico.
Immigration was a flash point throughout the campaign. Allred faced criticism for a past vote in favor of a Trump-backed immigration detention law, and he has since called to “abolish” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and move its functions to different agencies.
Meanwhile, Johnson held stock last year in Palantir, a data company with ties to ICE, according to congressional financial disclosure reports. Johnson said that she had an independent money manager and that the stocks were sold last year.
Johnson is one of two Texas House Democrats who lost their primaries Tuesday. Longtime Rep. Al Green, 78, was defeated by fellow Rep. Christian Menefee, 38, after a Republican redistricting effort led them to run for the same seat.
