Last month, Dallas City Council member Chad West announced he will run for a third term as the District 1 representative in the May city council election.
Over the weekend, two more names entered the race.
Mariana Griggs and Albert Mata both announced on social media that they will be joining the ballot for the District 1 city council position.
It will be both Griggs and Mata’s first campaign.
Jan. 18 will be the first day candidates can officially file to be on the ballot, and the ballot will be finalized Feb. 17. Election Day is May 6, and the Advocate will continue to report on all candidates throughout the election cycle.
Chad West
West is running for his third term as the D1 representative after winning the seat in 2019 and 2021.
He announced his reelection campaign in December, and has been flooding social media with endorsements from local leaders and politicians since.
An Oak Cliff resident for nearly two decades, West was heavily involved in the passage of the West Oak Cliff Area Plan in 2022.
Before becoming the D1 councilmember, West served on both the City Planning Commission and was a bond representative for the 2012 and 2017 bonds.
West’s statement on reelection is below.
“I am running to help preserve and build upon what makes Oak Cliff great for families like mine, especially my two children, Victoria and Preston. We want to continue the vision Oak Cliff has voted into office twice before: making Oak Cliff an affordable, safe, and empowered community. We successfully lowered the City of Dallas property tax rate and are funding programs to rehab existing and build new affordable housing. We successfully fully funded public safety officers and continue to implement safe street initiatives for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists. And we passed the West Oak Cliff Area Plan, which is the largest protective zoning initiative in Dallas history to give residents a say in the future of their backyards. I am running for reelection because we have delivered so much and Oak Cliff needs an experienced councilmember as we approach bond season to make sure every corner of Oak Cliff gets the improvements it deserves.”
Mariana Griggs
While this is Griggs’ first time running for city council, she is no stranger to the local politics scene.
Griggs’ ex-husband, Scott Griggs, was the D1 councilman from 2011 to 2019, and ran for mayor in 2019 where he lost to current mayor Eric Johnson in a runoff election.
Griggs has lived in Oak Cliff for over two decades, and she has gained a reputation for her community activism. Griggs has been involved with promoting community gardening efforts in Oak Cliff and bike lanes throughout the city.
In a Facebook post made Friday, Griggs announced that Noé Rincón Jr. will serve as her campaign secretary. Griggs also said she will soon begin the process of collecting signatures to legitimize her candidacy.
Griggs’ statement on running for city council is below.
“I am Mariana Griggs and I’m running for City Council in District 1. It is time for both majority and minority representation in our District. I know how to talk to my neighbors. We respect each other. I will work for what we know we need, not for what someone else wants to do for us. Soy Mariana Griggs y me postulo para el Consejo Municipal en el Distrito 1. Es hora de la representación mayoritaria y minoritaria en nuestro Distrito. Sé cómo hablar con mis vecinos. Nos respetamos mutuamente. Trabajaré por lo que sabemos que necesitamos, y no por lo que alguien más quiere hacer por nosotros.”
Albert Mata
Mata announced he is running for the D1 spot in a Youtube video posted Saturday. In the video, Mata emphasizes his third-generation Oak Cliff roots.
Mata has been deeply involved with community activism in recent years, and is credited as being one of the main advocates that pushed for Latino voices to be heard in the West Oak Cliff Action Plan.
For the last two years, Mata has been on the board of Somos Tejas, an activist and civic engagement group that focuses on the Latino community.
Mata’s statement on running for city council is below.
“I’m running to represent District 1 so that all of Oak Cliff can be truly represented. Oak Cliff has been a place of opportunity for families like my own, a place where anyone could enjoy an affordable home in a neighborhood that accepted and embraced them, regardless of where they came from. Stories like that of my family are becoming less and less common in today’s Oak Cliff. Many of our problems have gone unresolved or even unnoticed because our current and past leaders did not understand the lived experiences of everyone in their community, because they did not care to engage them. Together we can create a better city — For You. For Us. For Oak Cliff.”
