Lorie Blair was sworn in Monday to represent District 8 in southeast Dallas. This is her first term on the City Council, though she was a city plan commissioner.
What did Blair do before being elected to represent District 8?
Blair, 67, worked for over 35 years at AT&T before joining Elite News as a writer and editor. She is also a volunteer civil court mediator. Blair worked as District 8’s City Plan Commission representative from 2020 to 2024. She has lived in District 8 for 12 years.
What were Blair’s top campaign issues?
Blair cited her experience in zoning and land use. She pointed to her efforts on the Plan Commission to stopincompatible industrial developments in areas such as Floral Farms. She also worked with Dallas megachurch Friendship West Baptist and the neighboring community to deny the construction of a warehouse within sight of the church on Wheatland Road.
Blair worked on the Forward Dallas 2.0 plan, a comprehensive land-use guide that was adopted by City Council in September 2024. That plan aims to keep warehouse development in areas such as the International Inland Port of Dallas, away from residential areas, Blair said on her campaign website.
Blair’s priorities include public safety, housing developments and keeping property taxes low. She mentioned economic development opportunities near the Shops at RedBird and the DART station at UNT Dallas in The Dallas Morning News voter guide.
Who did Blair beat in the runoff election?
Longtime council member and Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins reached his term limit. He has represented District 8 for 16 of the past 18 years, and endorsed Blair in the election.
In his last term, Atkins shepherded the City Council through $4 billion shortfalls in the employee pension systems and the hiring of a new city manager. Atkins also led the influential economic development committee.
Blair competed against former council member Erik Wilson, who lost with just under 44% of the vote. Wilson served as the council member for District 8 from 2015 to 2017.
Six candidates ran to represent District 8. Wilson held a narrow lead in the May election, with both of the candidates finishing with around 40% of the vote.
As election day grew closer, Wilson faced criticism as a new political action committee called Revitalize Dallas sent out mailers supporting him and candidates in other races. The effort was funded by short-term rental platform Airbnb, which contributed $500,000 toward the effort, campaign finance filings show.
Airbnb has much at stake in an ongoing fight between the city and short-term rental operators. The city reignited a legal fight it lost earlier this year against ordinances that all but banned short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods. Atkins, the outgoing council member, voted for the ban.
What issues are important to District 8?
District 8 spans several miles from west to east, and includes agricultural land, the Inland Port, UNT Dallas and Paul Quinn College. It is home to diverse neighborhoods such as Red Bird, Kleberg-Rylie and Highland Hills.
The district will also be home to a new police academy. The Dallas City Council approved an agreement to lease a 20-acre property at the University of North Texas at Dallas to build the new training facility, and construction is expected to begin in 2026. The facility will house the university’s criminal justice program, an outdoor training area, a defensive tactics building and parking spaces, according to city documents. Questions remain about the project costs and the location of a separate public safety complex.
The current police academy is located in Red Bird. The weathered training space sparked talk about a new state-of-the-art facility.