Frizell Finally Concedes Dallas County Democratic DA Primary to Creuzot

There won't be a recount after all. Just before noon Monday, former Dallas County District Judge Elizabeth Frizell conceded her hard-fought primary for Dallas County district attorney. John Creuzot, also a former district judge, is now officially the Democratic nominee for DA. He'll take on Faith Johnson, Dallas County's last Republican countywide official, in November.

After a final vote tally last week that showed Frizell behind by about 600 votes, about half a percent of the approximately 113,000 cast, she vowed to fight on. She insisted on a recount, based on the narrow margin and the specter of illegal vote harvesting, which she raised in light of an investigation by Johnson's office into the handling of about 1,200 applications for absentee ballots made before the primary.

Creuzot's campaign strongly denied any impropriety, and the district attorney's office said that, unlike during last year's Dallas City Council election, no one has called the office to complain about receiving an unrequested ballot.

According to Frizell, a recount isn't worth it because it won't look into potential voter fraud.

"Although I was less than 1 percent away from my opponent’s vote total, after careful consideration of many factors, I have decided not to seek a recount of the votes," Frizell said Monday. "Based on the Texas election code, a recount does not permit the review of rejected ballots. It also does not permit the contest of the validity of ballots. It merely recounts the ballots that previously have been counted."

During the campaign, Frizell criticized Creuzot, a reformer who helped create Dallas County's first drug courts, for switching between the Republican and Democratic parties early in his career. Late in the race, her campaign got a bump from several prominent criminal justice reform advocates, including Shaun King.

Creuzot's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Frizell's concession, but we'll update this space when it does.