Between 2020 and 2024, Collin County added about 190,000 residents. Princeton, in central Collin County, was the nation’s fastest-growing city in 2024. Rapid, seemingly limitless growth has produced Collin County’s prosperity but also congested roads, overtaxed some fire departments and strained its limited social services. County commissioners, led by the county judge, must plan today for what the area will need five years from now.
Those facts make this year’s Republican primary for county judge especially important. Former Plano City Council member Rick Grady is challenging Collin County Judge Chris Hill. This newspaper recommends Grady, based on his extensive business management and finance experience, his record of public service and his decades of community involvement.
His responses during our Editorial Board interview were detailed and practical. For example, he wants the county to develop a maintenance schedule for all of its buildings to ensure they are safe and useful long-term. He believes county leaders should work proactively to attract more health care facilities to the eastern half of the county.
Grady, a Vietnam veteran, has a can-do attitude about challenges. He has long urged Plano and Collin County to expand services for homeless residents. The problem isn’t overwhelming, he said. Last year’s one-night census of the homeless population counted 605 people in a county of 1.25 million.
Opinion
“It’s not that big a number,” Grady said. “We can do this.”
He supports getting people off the streets, expanding existing shelters, better coordination among public and nonprofit agencies, and a focus on early intervention to prevent chronic homelessness.
It was refreshing to hear a candidate identify a difficult problem, avoid casting blame and sound optimistic about fixing it. Grady would be a competent, consensus-building county chief executive.
Incumbent Chris Hill has taken a sharply partisan approach to the job. He did not participate in our interview or complete our candidate questionnaire.
This editorial is part of the Dallas Morning News Editorial Board’s slate of recommendations for the 2026 primary. Find the full project here.
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