State Rep. Eric Johnson, who rose from the blight of West Dallas to a career in law and public service, defeated council member Scott Griggs on Saturday and will become Dallas' next mayor.

Johnson, 43, was backed by most of the city's business and political elite — including term-limited Mayor Mike Rawlings — and had a huge money advantage over his opponent. The election results showed the veteran legislator enjoyed strong support from northern and southern Dallas, while running well enough in the east to pull out an easy victory.

The Dallas lawyer campaigned on bringing the city together to solve its nagging problems, effectively casting Griggs as a dangerous divider who would set the city backward.

After his victory, Johnson commended Griggs for his eight years on the City Council. The state representative also said he's ready to take on his next challenge.

"Voters said 'We think you did a pretty good job in the Legislature, but we are ready for you to come home,'" he said.

Now Johnson, who is married with two young boys, will lead a city that has made strides under Rawlings, but still grapples with lingering problems such as an underdeveloped southern side, a recent spike in major crime, a shortage of police officers, corruption at City Hall and increased economic competition from other North Texas cities.

"We're still a city that needs to commit to finding solutions to the difficult things that are plaguing us," said Paul Quinn College President Michael Sorrell. "Mike Rawlings made great progress, but it was never going to be a one-mayor fix. The next mayor has to deal with those problems."

Others agree that Johnson is emerging as mayor at a critical time in the city's development. And he should have plenty of support at City Hall.

"Eric Johnson is the leader of the city now," said powerful state Sen. Royce West, one of his early backers in the runoff. "He's at the vanguard of a new generation that's emerging, and he'll be a good mayor."

In a brief statement after his defeat, Griggs encouraged his supporters to "continue the fight" at City Hall.

State Rep. and Dallas mayoral candidate Eric Johnson poses for a photo in the former Los Altos neighborhood where he grew up on Thursday, May 23, 2019 in West Dallas. Johnson said he would play in the grass pictured behind him and he and his friends would swing on a swing set that overlooked the Dallas skyline. He lived in an apartment complex that was torn down many years ago. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

Unexpected candidate

Johnson's election culminates a remarkable political achievement. He emerged as a surprise candidate earlier this year, then he stormed his way to the top of a nine-person race to ultimately defeat a veteran council member.

The Democrat has represented Texas House District 100 since 2010, when he replaced disgraced lawmaker Terri Hodge in the Legislature. Hodge pleaded guilty to tax evasion as part of a massive City Hall probe into shady low-income housing deals.

The Democrat in 2018 announced he would run for House speaker, but gave up the underdog race when Republican Dennis Bonnen secured the votes needed to win. Also mentioned as a potential congressional candidate, Johnson ran for re-election in November 2018, giving no indication that he was interested in replacing Rawlings.

But Johnson filed his candidacy at the 11th hour, and influential business leaders — such as oilman Ray Hunt, wealth manager Doug Deason, Omni Hotels and Gold's Gym magnate Robert Rowling and tax services CEO Brint Ryan — rallied to his side. In the runoff against Griggs, Johnson received endorsements from most of the Dallas establishment, including four former mayors and numerous past and present council members.

In contrast, Griggs biggest boosters were the Dallas Police Association, the Dallas Fire Fighters Association and a cadre of neighborhood leaders.

The candidates also tried to use their Dallas roots — Griggs was raised in North Dallas — to appeal to voters. While he said "there is nothing special about me" on Saturday, Johnson throughout the campaign touted his unique up-from-poverty biography. Raised in West Dallas, he left C.F. Carr Elementary School after the first grade. He won a scholarship to Greenhill School, and then went on to earn three Ivy League degrees before he returned to Dallas to work and raise a family.

But Johnson changed his message on issues from one round to the next. During a debate for the May 4 election, he said workforce readiness was the No. 1 issue facing Dallas. And he avoided taking jabs at other candidates in the race. But in the runoff, Johnson's No. 1 issue became which candidate was best equipped to bring the city together — a poke at Griggs' reputation as an opposition leader and "gadfly" on the council.

To cement his argument, Johnson said Griggs and his close political ally, Philip Kingston's "heavy-handed tactics have divided the council." Griggs and Kingston, sometimes dubbed "Griggston," said they had to fight hard because they were up against powerful forces. But Johnson said their style "has yielded irreparable damage to the relationships that are necessary to be successful."

"They are just not perceived as honest brokers and fair-dealing people anymore," Johnson said. "They have burned too many people around the horseshoe."

In turn, Griggs and his supporters blasted Johnson a tool of the establishment and suggested that he's too thin-skinned to lead the city.

On Saturday, Johnson told supporters "I'm not anybody's tool. I'm not anybody's fool."

"I'm a person who loves Dallas," he said.

But during the final weeks of the campaign, Johnson showed a defensive side, lashing out at his rival and his rival's backers on social media. He has blocked critics on Twitter and alleged that Griggs' supporters at a North Dallas polling place had stolen signs and intimidated voters during early voting. The two Griggs supporters, women in their 60s and 70s, denied such acts.

None of Johnson's social media antics seemed to deter voters, and Johnson's major backers pitched him as a consensus-builder.

"The city has spoken," said state Rep. Rafael Anchia, who served with Johnson in the Legislature. "There are still a lot of problems to solve and voters want professional and collaborative leadership in City Hall."

Nakita "Nikki" Johnson and state Rep. Eric Johnson chat with Nancy Hart as she makes her way to cast her vote at Samuell Grand Recreation Center in Dallas on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

Solving nagging problems

Johnson, who will become the city's second elected black mayor, will take over a city that boosters say is on a roll, but still can't shake problems such as its divide between the mostly wealthy north and largely impoverished south.

"Poverty really plagues a significant part of our city," Sorrell said. "That gets obscured because so much of the city is wealthy."

This year, Dallas has seen a spike in violent crime, making public safety the most pressing issue in the campaign. The runoff coincided with a month in which the city recorded 40 homicides, a total not seen since the 1990s. Robberies and aggravated assaults have also been on the rise and the city has a shortage of police officers.

During the campaign, Johnson said the crime wave is a serious issue, but he argued Griggs' rhetoric calling the situation a "public safety crisis" was harmful. Johnson said the next mayor should promote confidence in the city's ability to address tough issues, not "contribute to people's panic or fear in the city."

Whatever the case, people will now look to Johnson for answers on crime, as well as public corruption and revitalizing the south. Johnson jumped on the ethics issue before the May 4 election after former Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and former City Council member Carolyn Davis pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges.

To pass his priorities, whatever he decides they are, he'll need a majority of the council behind him.

"On several fronts, including District 14, citizens of Dallas rejected the politics of division soundly," Rawlings said from Australia, where he was with Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price on trip to promote DFW International Airport. "They said they wanted a uniter, not a divider."

With Griggs term-limited out and Kingston losing Saturday, Johnson faces no true opposition leader for now.

"He's going to start off with a lot of good will on the council," said Dallas political consultant and former city elections manager Brooks Love. "His biggest challenge in solving problems will be moving the council beyond the factionalism that we've seen for more than a decade."

West said Johnson, who will be different than many of Dallas' past mayors, should not hesitate to ask for help.

"I hope he calls on the knowledge of folks like Mike Rawlings and Ron Kirk and other leaders," West said.

Kirk, who was elected the city's first black mayor in 1995, said Rawlings "doesn't get the credit he deserves for moving the city forward."

Kirk, who supported Johnson, said the new mayor's first priority should be the city's budget.

"He's going to have to increase funding for public safety without bankrupting the rest of the city," Kirk said.

Kirk said that issue and the rest of the job requires leadership.

"Being a good mayor means getting the council and others in the city to come together to tackle the tough issues," he said. "The mayor also has to promote the city as the best place in the world to live and work. He has to be a vision guy."

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who worked closely at times with Rawlings, said that being a mayor is unlike other elected positions.

"You go from being one in a body to an executive that has to build coalitions and set a tone," Jenkins said. "That's a very different task and you are going to be held to a higher standard than people not in that role."

Metro columnist Sharon Grigsby contributed to this report.