Rep. Julie Johnson and former Rep. Colin Allred will face off again in the Democratic primary runoff, NBC News plans, after Allred dropped out of the Texas Senate race last year and ran for a House seat redrawn by redistricting.
No candidate won a majority in Tuesday’s first round of primaries.
Rep. The deep-blue 33rd District in the Dallas area became a competitive primary after Allred dropped out of the Senate race in honor of Jasmine Crockett, choosing to run for the House instead.
Johnson succeeded Allred in a different Dallas-based district in 2024, his first run for Senate, and the GOP Sen. in the general election. Lost to Ted Cruz. Allred’s decision to run against her chosen successor led to uneasy dynamics in the race.
“I think it’s a little strange, but at the end of the day, he made this choice,” Johnson told NBC News last month.
The race between Allred and Johnson heated up over stock trading and immigration enforcement.
The two accused each other of supporting Immigration Customs and Enforcement or related companies in different ways. The Texas Tribune reported last month that Johnson bought and sold stock in Palantir, a data company tied to ICE, last year, according to congressional financial disclosure reports.
Johnson said he had an independent money manager and that the shares were sold last year before any ICE escalation in Minneapolis.
He told NBC News that he voted against ICE funding and against Palantir’s interests.
Allred, who has faced criticism for voting in favor of a Trump-backed immigration detention law, advocated for greater congressional oversight of ICE if Democrats win a majority in the midterms.
