After 30 years in office, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price faces a September bribery trial and a March 1 Democratic Primary with his toughest re-election challenge in years.
Former Dallas City Council Member Dwaine Caraway is waging a furious campaign against Price with less than a month to go before the election.
“You have to go beyond. You have to do overtime. You have to connect the dots,” Caraway said.
In eight years as a Dallas City Council Member, part of that time serving as Dallas Mayor, Caraway was best known for campaigns against plastic grocery bags and saggy pants.
“That is something that every man ought to want to instill into every youngster, young boys growing up - self respect - the ability to dress decent and have respect for yourself and be able to then go and get a job,” Caraway said.
The Dallas bag ban was eventually repealed, but Caraway said people give him credit for trying.
“When you look at it, real leaders take on real issues,” he said. “The issue of the world is the environment.”
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Price calls Caraway’s past issues “gimmicks.”
“We don’t deal with gimmicks. We deal with governance. That becomes the marked difference between our campaigns,” Price said.
In his 30 years, Price said he has earned a reputation as the most knowledgeable official in Dallas County government.
“I chair the committees that basically operate the county and that’s the way you get governance done,” Price said.
Price said he has led issues of criminal justice, health and diversity. He takes credit for helping to attract thousands of jobs to his Southern Dallas County district, including a new Kohl’s Department Store e-commerce center in DeSoto.
“We’ve brought jobs, we’ve brought infrastructure,” Price said.
Price declined to discuss the September bribery trial. The corruption investigation clouded his re-election campaign four years ago and he won by a large margin.
Caraway also avoids discussing the Price indictment, but his campaign slogan is “It’s time.”
“We’ve done more in eight years than he’s done in 30. That’s why ‘it’s time,’” Caraway said.
“Certainly Caraway is the strongest opponent he’s had in many, many years,” said Dallas Morning News Political Writer Gromer Jeffers. “It’s going to come down to voter turnout and the question I have, 'is John Wiley Price’s machine still as formidable as it was, say, ten years ago?'”
Balch Springs Mayor Cedric Davis and developer Micah Phillips are also in the Democratic race.
The district is heavily Democratic, so the Democrats are focused more on the March 1 primary than Republican opposition in November.
Republicans Kinney Lee Fields and S. T. Russell face each other March 1 for a Republican nomination.
