Former Rep. Colin Allred has unseated Rep. Julie Johnson in a Democratic primary runoff, NBC News projects, after he dropped out of the Texas Senate race last year and made a run for a House seat reshaped by redistricting.
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The primary for the deep blue 33rd District in the Dallas area grew competitive after Allred left the Senate race in deference to Rep. Jasmine Crockett, instead opting to run for the House.
Allred finished well ahead of Johnson, 44%-33%, in the first-round primary on March 3, with the race then going to a runoff because no one got majority support.
Allred also got support from attorney Zeeshan Hafeez and business owner Carlos Quintanilla, who finished behind him and Johnson in the initial primary.
Johnson replaced Allred in a different district in 2024, when he first ran for Senate and lost to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz that November. Allred’s decision to run against his successor made for an “awkward” dynamic in the race, Johnson told NBC News earlier this year.
Allred, an attorney and former professional football player, served in the Obama administration and then ran for Congress in 2018. He flipped a longtime red seat in the Dallas suburbs in that year’s “blue wave” before trying and failing to make the jump to the Senate six years later.
He started another run for Senate in 2025 before dropping out as Crockett jumped into the race. Crockett then lost the Democratic Senate nomination to state Rep. James Talarico.
Immigration was a flashpoint throughout the campaign. Allred faced criticism for a past vote in favor of a Trump-backed immigration detention law, and he has since called to “abolish” Immigration and Customs Enforcement and move its functions to different agencies.
Meanwhile, Johnson held stock last year in Palantir, a data company with ties to ICE, according to congressional financial disclosure reports. Johnson said that she had an independent money manager and that the stocks were sold last year.
Johnson is one of two Texas House Democrats who lost their primaries on Tuesday. Longtime Rep. Al Green, 78, was defeated by fellow Rep. Christian Menefee, 38, after a Republican redistricting effort led them to run for the same seat.