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Know Your Community This Spring
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Voters in Farmers Branch, Addison and Carrollton, along with families in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, will head to the polls May 2. Before they do, the Branch Herald is giving every candidate a chance to speak directly to readers through its candidate questionnaire.
In early March, questionnaires were sent to candidates in the Farmers Branch mayoral race, the Farmers Branch City Council District 2 race, the Addison Town Council race, the Carrollton mayoral race, Carrollton City Council Places 2, 4 and 6, and the CFBISD Board of Trustees race. Nearly all the candidates responded. Only three, Zul Mohamed, Daisy Palomo and Luis Palomo, missed the deadline.
Readers tell us the questionnaires are one of the most useful things we publish before an election, and we take that seriously. This year, we did something a little different: no word limits. Some of these topics could fill a book. Read in their entirety, these candidate questionnaires provide readers a clear understanding of the issues across the Metrocrest region, an area where the cities and communities blend into each other.
The Branch Herald did not edit candidates’ responses for grammar, punctuation, content or style. Questions will appear in bold on the website.If a candidate did not answer a question, those spaces are blank. The Herald linked each candidate’s email address and website so readers can reach them directly.
The races
In Farmers Branch, incumbent Mayor Terry Lynne faces challengers Rink Dasai and Jaime Rivas. In the City Council District 2 race, Brenda Broderick is challenging incumbent Tina Bennett-Burton for the second time. The two previously faced each other in the November 2024 special election.
In Addison, five candidates, incumbents Chris DeFrancisco, Howard Freed and Darren Gardner, along with Trish Stuart and Schnell Blanton, are vying for three council seats. Addison’s council members are elected at large, meaning all eligible city voters cast ballots for every seat, with the top vote-getters across the whole town winning the available seats.
Carrollton’s mayoral race pits incumbent Steve Babick against challenger Zul Mohamed. On the City Council, Jason Carpenter is running unopposed in Place 2 and Daisy Palomo is running unopposed in Place 6. Place 4 is an open seat after incumbent Dr. Andrew Palacios reached his term limit. Lisa Sutter, Michael Song and Thomas Chellethe are competing for that seat. All Carrollton council members are elected at large, meaning all eligible city voters cast ballots for every seat, though council members for odd-year Places must reside within their respective Place.
The CFBISD Board of Trustees race features four candidates, incumbent Carolyn Benavides, Luis Paloma, Cinthya Noda and Dave Jimenez, competing for two open seats. This race uses cumulative voting, which works differently from a standard at-large election. Each voter receives the same number of votes as there are open seats, in this case, two. Voters can spread those votes across multiple candidates or concentrate both votes on a single candidate. The two candidates with the highest vote totals win. Votes for this race have to be calculated to include results from both Dallas and Denton counties.
Visit the Branch Herald Elections page to see all the questionnaires.
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