Eye on Politics: Race for Dallas Co. District Attorney, new governor's race poll
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - In this episode (original airdate: 9-22), Jack sits down with both candidates running for Dallas County District Attorney. Jack also breaks down a poll in the race for Texas governor with an associate dean from UT Arlington.
Every week, CBS 11 political reporter Jack Fink breaks down some of the biggest political stories grabbing headlines in North Texas and beyond. Watch the latest episode of Eye on Politics in the video player above and stream new episodes live every Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. on CBS News DFW.
Controversy over busing migrants
The controversy over the busing of migrants from Texas to other cities across the country intensified this week.
Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have sharply criticized Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for sending asylum-seekers by bus or plane to Vice President Kamala Harris' official residence and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Both governors and Republicans are pushing back, including Senator John Cornyn who says transporting migrants across the country is not new.
A group of migrants who were voluntarily flown by the state of Florida from San Antonio to Martha's Vineyard have filed suit against DeSantis, saying they were deceived. DeSantis has denied that.
I have officially opened a criminal investigation against the individual(s) who lured and transported 48 migrants from the Migrant Resource Center in San Antonio, TX to Martha's Vineyard. If you or someone you know has been impacted, please email bcsotips@bexar.org
— SheriffSalazar (@sheriffsalazar) September 20, 2022
Meanwhile, the Bexar County Sheriff has also launched an investigation to see if any laws were violated. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has criticized the investigation as grandstanding.
Latest poll numbers in the Texas Governor's race
A poll of registered voters released this week by the Dallas Morning News and UT Tyler shows Gov. Greg Abbott with a nine percentage point lead over his Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke.
In the same poll, 'likely voters' also favored Governor Abbott over O'Rourke, 50% - 39%. Rebecca Deen, the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the College of Liberal Arts at UT Arlington said this isn't surprising.
"When you look 'at likely voters' and 'almost certain voters,' they tend to skew more conservative and more Republican," she said. "The reason for that is historical turnout data. If you look at who is most likely to vote, especially in non-presidential elections, it tends to be the habitual voters. If it's election day [they're] headed to the polls. When you screen for that, often, you get people who are a little bit older, tend to be a little bit more of a white demographic, and a little bit of a more homeowner, embedded in their community. Those are the groups that Republicans have targeted, especially here in Texas over time."
Democratic candidates in Texas and across the U.S. have put much of their campaign focus on abortion rights. Deen noted that's not a surprise either.
"When the Dobbs decision came down, one of the things that a lot of political scientists were talking about was the lag time between the decision and election," she said. "There are folks who might personally oppose abortion but see a total ban is not something that they can support. I think that's one of the reasons why you see O'Rourke in the in the places that he's campaigning on college campuses and all across the state."
Watch the full interview with Rebecca Deen in the video player above.
Dallas County District Attorney race
There's a political rematch from 2018 happening in Dallas County this November as Republican Faith Johnson seeks to unseat Democrat John Creuzot as District Attorney.
Creuzot defeated Johnson four years ago, who was District Attorney at the time. Johnson said she is running to make a change in Dallas County.
"I plan to make certain that the people of Dallas County are safe and secure," she said. "They do not feel safe. They do not feel secure. And they don't feel like they've got a DA that cares about them."
Johnson said in her conversations with Dallas County residents and business owners, they have expressed concern about rising crime.
"If your talking about taking $750 from these shop owners... they can't afford for somebody to come into their store and steal up to $750," she said.
"People feel like they can do whatever they want," Johnson said of the current state of the county. "It's got to change."
Johnson also discussed why a Republican can win the District Attorney seat.
"People, and it doesn't matter whether you're Democrat or Republican, they do not like crime," she said.
She said people from across the political spectrum asked her to run again because they didn't like policies being put out by the DA's office. She believes the reason she lost in 2018 is because of straight-party ticket voting, which no longer exists in Texas. She said now that people have experienced Creuzot, they don't like what he's done.
If elected, Johnson said her first priority will be to reinstitute the policy of prosecuting theft cases under $750. She also criticized Creuzot for not pursuing the death penalty in some capital murder cases.
Another priority is to reimplement her AIM Program, which began in 2016 during Johnson's previous tenure as DA. The program aims to reduce recidivism rates.
"I believe in second chances. However, I do not believe in unlimited chances," Johnson said.
The program, according to her, is being abused by judges and it's allowing people to repeat crimes. Her vision is to cap the 'unlimited' amount of second chances.
Her opponent, Democratic Incumbent John Creuzot, believes he deserves to be re-elected for addressing the issues he spoke about during his 2018 campaign.
One issue involved looking at the racial disparity in misdemeanor marijuana arrests. Creuzot said he stopped prosecuting those cases, which helped free up officers' time to respond to other calls. He said an independent study done by SMU showed this policy worked and there was no connection with misdemeanor marijuana arrests and violent crime.
"We have taken an evidence-based approach in running this office," he said.
Creuzot said his mental health diversion program has brought the recidivism rate from 50-70% down to 20%. Looking forward, he plans to focus on Mental health and homelessness with his Dallas Deflects program.
"We've actually processed 681 capital murder or murder cases," Creuzot said. "We are targeting the people who hurt us the most and holding them accountable."
He says conviction rate during the previous administration was 87% compared to 93% this year.
According to crime statistics posted on the city of Dallas' website, the rate of murders are up by over 10% compared to 2021. At the same time, aggravated assault, rape, and other types of crime are down. Creuzot believes there's not a 'one to one' relationship with prosecuting cases and a reduction in crime.
"Where the real one to one comes in is is the quality of the policing that goes on," he said. "As far as what happens on the street, and whether or not crimes occur, I think we are learning and understanding based on this new police chief and his methodology, and the acceptance of it by the mayor and the city council, that that's more impactful on the reduction in crime."
On the decision to not prosecute theft cases below $750, Creuzot said there's no evidence this policy has had any impact on the number of theft cases in Dallas County. He said he has yet to find any current policy that's caused an increase in crime.
In response to Johnson's criticism, Creuzot believes an automatic life sentence is a more efficient, cost effective solution than the death penalty.
"It's more complicated than people realize and very costly to do this."