The dispute between Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and election opponent Dwaine Caraway dates back to long before their current election year rivalry.
Caraway, a former Dallas city councilman, has never been an ally of Price, according to Dallas Morning News Political Writer Gromer Jeffers.
"They've always had a deep, contentious relationship, going all the way back to the early 90s," Jeffers said. "It's been really rough between the two of them, and Caraway and Price have been on opposite sides on almost every issue."
Price had been in office for more than a decade in 1998 when Caraway pushed for an NAACP leadership position that Price opposed.
Jeffers said their discord grew in 2001 when Caraway first ran for the Dallas City Council seat his wife was leaving. Price supported Ed Oakley, a white candidate, in the predominantly African American district.
"It was really, really a devastating loss for Dwaine Caraway," Jeffers said. "One of the reasons he lost that race was because of his feud with John Wiley Price. So this has been going on for a really, really long time."
With Price now facing a federal bribery trial, Caraway chose to run against him for Dallas County Commissioners Court.
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"There he saw his opportunity, after eight years on the council, to really come back and beat his old rival and take his job – a good paying job, a job with a lot of political clout, a lot of influence," Jeffers said.
Monday's cell phone video of the two candidates quarreling at a gospel radio station looks bad for Caraway's campaign as a fresh alternative, Jeffers said.
"It's going to be tough for Caraway to rebound from this," Jeffers said.
