Release: Senator Nathan Johnson Statement on Election Results

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                  

6 March 2024  

TEXAS SENATOR NATHAN JOHNSON WINS IN
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR SENATE DISTRICT 16

DALLAS, TX—Incumbent State Senator Nathan Johnson won the Democratic Primary Election for Senate District 16 with approximately 60% of the vote. Reflecting on the election outcome, Johnson said,

We ran a positive race about understanding the needs of the district and delivering results for people, about fighting effectively against the rightward lurch of Republican leadership, and about growing the strength of the Democratic party in Texas.

The voters responded. They overwhelmingly approve of what we’ve achieved and have said they want me to get back to work. I’m back at it today. 

I am deeply grateful to my fantastic team and to all those who’ve supported our campaign and our efforts in office. My team and I are energized and inspired by the results. We now all the more eagerly embrace our responsibilities to engage with constituents, craft good policy that addresses their concerns, and build a coalition that serves the diverse needs and aspirations of the people of this state. 

For more information about Senator Johnson and his campaign, please visit NathanForTexas.com.

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 About Senator Nathan Johnson: Senator Nathan Johnson represents almost a million people in Texas’s Senate District 16, a commercially and culturally vibrant district that sprawls throughout Dallas County. Johnson currently serves on the Senate Committees on Business & Commerce; Jurisprudence (Vice Chair); Water, Agriculture & Rural Affairs; and Administration.

Endorsements matter.

We shared the news with you when the Dallas Morning News endorsed Senator Johnson’s reelection campaign because endorsements are important. They speak to our vibrant coalition of Dallas individuals, families, and groups—people who have looked at the candidates and their records, and who’ve come together and agreed: 

Nathan Johnson is the right choice for Texas Senate District 16, for Dallas, and for Texas.

But it’s not just the endorsements themselves; it’s also what they’ve been saying about Senator Johnson. Like when the Morning News called him “one of the most effective Democratic legislators in Texas.”

To see the full list of endorsements that Senator Johnson has received, click here.

That word “effective” really matters to us. Senator Johnson has always been committed to delivering actual results for the people he represents, and he’s delivered on that commitment time and again.

His focus on getting the job done—on finding a way to get good laws passed despite the Republican majority—has been a consistent theme in the endorsements he’s received. Here’s what Dr. Michael Hinojosa, former Dallas ISD superintendent, had to say when he endorsed Senator Johnson:

Yes, you can count on Senator Johnson to deliver for our community. He’s already won significant victories for working families in Senate District 16 and across the state, and he’s running for reelection to keep delivering those victories.

If you live in Senate District 16, he needs your help: Join him by voting Nathan Johnson in the March 5th Democratic primary. Early voting runs through this Friday, and you can also vote on Election Day, Tuesday, March 5. For more information, visit NathanforTexas.com/voting-info.

Dallas Morning News Endorses Nathan Johnson

“We recommend in Texas Senate District 16, Democratic primary”

By Dallas Morning News Editorial

As part of a cynical redistricting effort undertaken with the goal to pack as many Democrats as possible into ever-tighter districts, Texas Republicans remade Senate District 16 representing Dallas and inner ring suburbs.

They’ve gotten exactly what they wanted, a struggle between two important Democratic voices in the Legislature that will leave one without an office.

Incumbent Sen. Nathan Johnson, 56, and state Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, 43, should not be political rivals. But such is the zero-sum state of politics now that they are engaged in a bare-knuckled primary fight.

The theme of the race, at least according to Neave Criado, is that Johnson isn’t sufficiently tough on Republicans. She’s the fighter, according to her campaign.

We don’t doubt she is a fighter, and Neave Criado has done important work on behalf of not just Democratic causes but causes that benefit people across the state, particularly women.

But primary voters need to be careful what the word fighter means because Johnson has quietly become one of the most effective Democratic legislators in Texas. He has worked tirelessly, strategically and across the aisle to advance a swath of matters that help Texas be a better state. And he has stood in the path of Republican overreach in ways that the public can’t always see.

In politics these days, fighter really means noisemaker. We don’t think that is what Neave Criado is. She’s a serious lawmaker. But when she contrasts her stance as a fighter against Johnson’s, that’s the only meaning it can have. Because Johnson fights constantly. His fights aren’t on social media or in self-aggrandizing floor speeches that fire up the base only to alienate the broader electorate and the Republican senators Democrats need if they are going to advance their causes even an inch.

Johnson personally authored 99 bills in 2021 and 175 in 2023. In a Legislature that is hostile to Democrats, he actually gets bills passed.

Neave Criado has focused on a single vote from Johnson that increases the penalty for human smuggling and operating stash houses as evidence that he somehow is backing a racial-profiling agenda. This is a political distortion and not reflective of what actually happened when the Senate voted nearly unanimously, with 10 of 12 Democrats in support, to try to crack down on the sort of human smugglers who leave people to die in tractor-trailers.

It’s unfortunate that Republicans are getting what they wanted out of this race, a mud fight between two gifted Democrats. We wish Neave Criado hadn’t taken the bait. Her political future is bright, but it’s now marked by targeting a Democratic senator who has worked to improve the grid, water availability, access to health care and any number of issues critical to our future.

We urge voters to look at Johnson’s record and return him to office.

Dallas Morning News Editorial. Dallas Morning News editorials are written by the paper's Editorial Board and serve as the voice and view of the paper. The board considers a broad range of topics and is overseen by the Editorial Page Editor.