Updated June 14: This story has been updated to reflect that Gracey is an Executive Pastor.
Zarin Gracey was elected to the District 3 City Council seat in the June 10 runoff election.
Gracey, 46, secured 1,063 votes for 62.57% of the total to win the seat.
“I think I was able to get diverse support around the district and show that my goal is to continue building our community, not politics,” Gracey told the Dallas Morning News Saturday evening.
Gracey’s opponent, Joe Tave collected 636 votes for 37.43% of the total.
Gracey and Tave emerged as the runoff candidates after receiving the top voter percentages in a five-person race in the May 6 election. The District 3 seat was the only Dallas City Council race to go to a runoff election.
In the May 6 election, Gracey accounted for 46.22% of the vote and Tave collected 25.76%. 50% of the vote is required to avoid a runoff.
In total, 1,699 District 3 votes were cast in the June 10 election. In the general election, the district cast 3,018 votes.
This was Gracey’s first time running for the city council seat; he serves as an Executive Pastor and has spent time on the City Plan Commission, the Dallas Public Facility Corporation and other leadership positions with the city.
Gracey was notably endorsed by former District 3 representative Casey Thomas who served the maximum eight years in the horseshoe.
In a May forum hosted by the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, Gracey said “if you haven’t seen me out it’s because I’ve been busy working.”
