Dallas County House District 100 runoff special election came to a close Tuesday night with Democrat Lorraine Birabil on top.
Political operative Lorraine Birabil won the runoff for House District 100, receiving 1,643 votes (66.3 percent) against pastor James Armstrong III, who received 836 votes (33.7 percent).
Voter turnout in the special election was sparse; in fact, it was the second lowest turnout of any special election runoff. Just 2,479 (2.9 percent) of House District 100’s 86,827 registered voters cast a ballot in the election. 396 voters (16 percent) cast their ballot by mail, while 766 (30.9 percent) voted early in person. 1,317 voters (53.1 percent) cast their ballots on Election Day – Tuesday, January 28.
The special election was first called by Gov. Greg Abbott to replace former State Rep. Eric Johnson (D-Dallas) after he won the Dallas mayoral race last May.
Once Birabil is sworn in with the two other special election runoff winners in Fort Bend and Harris County, the House complement of members will be brought to 150, with 83 Republicans and 67 Democrats.
Birabil will be back on the ballot for the March 3 Democratic primary for House District 100. She will face James Armstrong III again in addition to attorney Jasmine Crockett, attorney Paul Stafford, Dallas business owner Daniel Clayton, former aide to Rep. Toni Rose, and former Dallas City Councilwoman Sandra Crenshaw, the latter two of whom ran in the first round of the special election. Whoever wins the March primary will automatically become State Rep., as there were only Democrats who filed.
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