The Dallas Morning News wants Collin County voters to send Jeff Leach back to the Texas House, and their endorsement tells you exactly who the institutional press fears losing: the Republican who will cross his base when the establishment needs him to.
Leach, 44, is the incumbent in Texas House District 67, and the News recommendation centers on what they call his "moral core" and willingness to "stand up for principles, even at a high political cost." Translation: he voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2023, and he publicly criticized Railroad Commission candidate Bo French for racism. The editorial board considers those acts of conscience. A lot of grassroots conservatives in Collin County consider them acts of betrayal.
On policy, Leach is aligned with Gov. Greg Abbott's push to eliminate homeowners' school property taxes — the single biggest pocketbook issue for working families in the district. Leach argues rising property taxes are unsustainable and favors limiting appraisals to every three to four years to stop local officials from jacking up rates. He supports replacing local school tax funding with state revenue, pointing to Texas' continuous growth to justify the swap. The News editorial board admits skepticism that the state can raise enough funds to pull it off, but Leach says legislators are establishing an independent task force to review the school finance system before making moves.
His Democratic opponent is Jordan Wheatley, a 28-year-old public school teacher. Wheatley opposes eliminating school property taxes and instead wants to fund schools based on enrollment rather than attendance — a model the News dismisses, arguing attendance is the better measure because it incentivizes schools to get kids in seats. Wheatley does back the state's Teacher Incentive Allotment, a pay-for-performance program that has improved teacher salaries and retention, and he favors stronger reading interventions modeled on Mississippi's phonics approach.
On the Shariah issue that has circulated this cycle, Leach took what the News calls a "nuanced approach," saying judges need guidance when Shariah conflicts with the Constitution. He cited a Texas Supreme Court ruling that a divorce granted under Shariah in Pakistan is not valid in Texas.
The telling moment in the endorsement comes at the end. The News acknowledges Leach's pledge to vote the Republican ticket is a "mistake" — but they still recommend him. That's the deal the establishment always offers: tolerate the party-line vote, reward the independence on the votes that matter to them. The Paxton impeachment was the clearest example of bipartite failure in the last session — a coordinated effort by Republicans and Democrats alike to remove an AG who was actually investigating the right people.
The real question in HD-67 isn't whether the Dallas Morning News approves. It's whether the voters who sent Paxton back to office with a mandate will hold Leach's impeachment vote against him at the ballot box when the editorial board isn't looking.
