‘Fed up with the status quo’: How a 26-year-old unseated eight-term Texas lawmaker
In one of the biggest upsets out of Tuesday’s primaries, a 26-year-old from Grand Prairie unseated eight-term Texas Rep. Chris Turner.
But the way Junior Ezeonu sees it, perhaps his win in House District 101 shouldn’t come as that big of a surprise.
“I just feel that in this moment that we’re living in, we need change across the board within the Democratic Party,” Ezeonu said in a Wednesday morning interview. “I think we need a new generation of leaders. Young, bold progressive leaders that are ready to fight back against the insanity that we’re seeing from the right.”
Democratic voters in the southeastern Tarrant County district, which includes parts of Arlington, Grand Prairie and Mansfield, chose Ezeonu over Turner, 53% to 47%. There are no Republican candidates in the November election.
Ezeonu is a political consultant and serves as mayor pro tem in Grand Prairie, where he’s served on the City Council since 2021.
He who moved to America from Nigeria and has lived in the district since he was 2 years old. He said he went to school in Arlington and has worked retail in the district and as a substitute teacher in the Mansfield school district.
“I think that helped me appeal to the voters, being that I’m a young progressive guy, but I’m also homegrown,” Ezeonu said.
‘Fed up with the status quo’
Ezeonu said he sees a shift happening in the Democratic Party.
“The Democratic voters are just fed up with the status quo,” he said. “They’re fed up with the establishment, and they’re tired of being told that this is how the world works, and this is the only way for politics to play.”
Voters want candidates worried about improving their quality of life and helping them thrive, he said, pointing to things like unattainable homeownership and expensive child care costs .
Ezeonu said Turner is a good man, thanking him for his service to the district, but said a new generation of leaders is needed in the party.
“If we want to win really important elections, you need a new dynamic base of Democratic voters,” he said.
This election cycle, Ezeonu said he saw voters turning out who didn’t typically participate in primaries.
“I can’t tell you how many hundreds, if not thousands, of people that voted for me because they saw that I was a young man of color from our community, and they said, ‘Wow, he’s been a council member since he was 22 years old, and he’s taken this step, and he’s running on issues that matter to me. I’m going to go and vote.’”
The average age of lawmakers in the Texas House during the latest session was 54, according to the state’s Legislative Reference Library. District 101 is home to about 199,000 people, most of whom are Black or Hispanic.
“Everybody that has a heart for service should run if they want to run,” Ezeonu said. “I don’t believe in waiting your turn. I don’t believe in waiting for the perfect time, because there’s no such thing. I believe if it’s in your heart and you’re ready to serve your community, try it and see what happens.”
‘The honor of a lifetime’
Turner, 53, said he and Ezeonu are aligned on policy issues. He expects they would have largely voted the same way in Austin when it came time to consider legislation.
“ Sometimes you have these elections where people simply want change, and I understand that, because there’s a lot of things going on in our country, in our state right now that are absolutely unacceptable,” Turner said, later adding, “I think fundamentally that’s what happened.”
Turner said he is among those who are angry about the actions of the Trump administration and dissatisfied with Gov. Greg Abbott’s leadership.
“What I hope is that that thirst for change is going to translate in November, and we’re going to see a huge Democratic turnout, and we’re going to get the change that’s really needed, which is to vote out the Republicans in Texas and across the country,” Turner said.
Turner has been in the legislature all but two years since 2009 and was chair of House Democratic Caucus from 2017 to 2022. He called his service in Austin “the honor of a lifetime.”
He highlighted his work to support veterans, like the creation of a lottery game that raises money for support services, which was among the lawmaker’s first bills passed. One of his final projects in the legislature was expanding a full homestead exemption to the surviving spouses of certain veterans.
Turner said he’s also proud of his office’s focus on helping constituents with their problems and efforts to secure funding for the district, including for UT Arlington, as well as his work around higher education, public safety and consumer protection issues.
“I’d put our record up against anyone,” he said, adding that he’s been effective in the legislature even as a member of the political minority.
Turner’s loss is an upset, but the lawmaker said he knew it would be a close race.
“I think a lot of people were surprised to learn that I had a close race last night and this morning,” Turner said. “I was not surprised. I’ve known for months that this was going to be a very close, competitive election, and I honestly thought it could go either way.”
Jasmine Crockett’s influence on voter turnout
Ezeonu campaigned with U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who lost the U.S. Senate Democratic primary but performed well in Tarrant County.
Ezeonu said her race with Texas Rep. James Talarico helped excite voters, especially younger ones. He also points to an “anti-Trump effect” among voters who are angry at the federal government.
Without a November opponent to worry about, Ezeonu said he’ll focus on continuing to build relationships within the community.
He’ll also be working to try and help elect other Democrats in Tarrant County, such as Alisa Simmons’ bid for county judge and Ebony Turner’s run in House District 96.
“Tarrant County is going to go blue this year,” Ezeonu said. “We’re going to flip blue across the board.”
Turner was also looking ahead to November, even if he won’t be on the ballot.
“Let’s all keep fighting, and let’s all come back out in October and November and bring 10 or 15 friends with us, and let’s change the direction of our stand and our country,” he said.
