Junior Ezeonu still has memories of knocking on the first doors asking Grand Prairie residents to elect him for city council.
Ezeonu was 21 going on 22, finishing his final semester at the University of Texas at Arlington. Some voters thought he was working on a school project, he said. But even then, he was passionate about lowering property taxes, affordability and raising worker pay. So, he tried to convince people to take him seriously by showing them how he would serve.
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“I don’t know everything,” Ezeonu recalled telling voters. “I don’t have all the answers, but I promise to be transparent with you.”
Now 27, the former Grand Prairie City Council member and Democratic nominee for Texas House District 101 looks to bring the same approach to Austin. After upsetting incumbent Chris Turner with 52.6% of the March primary vote, Ezeonu is unopposed in the Nov. 3 election, looking to center his first year in Austin on public school funding, affordability and higher wages.
The district covers parts of Arlington, Grand Prairie and Mansfield. Ezeonu still needs at least one vote in the Nov. 3 election to win, according to the Texas secretary of state.
“My No. 1 focus is, ‘How does it affect the residents in District 101, and how does it affect Texans in general?’” Ezeonu said. “So any piece of legislation that I’m voting for or I’m pushing forward is going to be for the betterment of my district and for my state.”
Born in Onitsha, Nigeria, Ezeonu moved to Texas with his family at age 2. He grew up in Arlington and graduated from Bowie High School. His family moved to Grand Prairie while he was in high school.
His interest in government began with curiosity about the world, Ezeonu said. At school book fairs, he remembers buying pocket guides to the 50 states and American presidents.
“I was in third grade and had a teacher who told me one day I’d be president,” he said. “I told her, ‘I can’t because I wasn’t born here,’ but she told me (that) because I was just so ambitious to learn and to understand.”
By high school, he said he began to see public office as a way to repay the teachers, neighbors and others who had helped him grow up.
Marvin Sutton, former Arlington City Council member, remembers the young Ezeonu listening as Sutton asked Ezeonu’s father for campaign support. Years later, Ezeonu sought Sutton’s advice on voter outreach, campaign reports and yard signs. Sutton later helped his House campaign.
“As Junior matured, he started looking for how he can make an impact, how he can pull other people up to that same level,” Sutton said. “You can see that in his personality. You can see that in the way he carries himself.”
Ezeonu graduated from UTA in May 2021 with a political science degree then won his council seat the next month. Reelected in 2024, he became mayor pro tem in 2025. He now works as a political manager for Climate Cabinet, which supports candidates and policies focused on climate change.
“It was good that he was as young as he was because he had not been tainted by anyone else’s perspective or personal agendas,” said Rashad Raynor, a Grand Prairie resident and business owner.
During Ezeonu’s tenure, the council cut the city’s property tax rate twice and expanded its homestead exemption, which reached 17.5% in 2024. Grand Prairie also raised minimum pay to $17.82 an hour for full-time city employees and $15 for part-time and seasonal workers, changes Ezeonu said he advocated for.
Sutton also points to Ezeonu’s regular town halls, basketball tournaments and community picnics as ways to stay connected to residents.
“You see him everywhere,” Sutton said.
Ezeonu said President Donald Trump’s 2024 victory convinced him the Democratic Party needed new leadership.
“We need a new generation of leaders that look at things differently and are ready to meet this moment,” he said.
Junior Ezeonu, Grand Prairie City Council member, speaks during a protest against immigrant deportations outside Arlington City Hall on Feb. 2, 2025. (Cecilia Lenzen | Fort Worth Report)
In Austin, Ezeonu wants to raise the per-student funding for schools from $6,215 to $10,000, pointing to the state’s Rainy Day Fund as a potential revenue source.
His wage proposal would raise Texas’ minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour through annual increases of $1.55 over five years, followed by inflation adjustments. The phase-in would give businesses time to adjust, he said.
“When individuals are making more money and getting paid more, and there’s more dollars circulating in the economy, folks are going to spend money,” Ezeonu said. “And when folks have more disposable income, they’re going to spend that money.”
On housing, he wants to restrict or ban private equity firms and other institutional investors from buying single-family homes. He believes corporate buyers are putting homeownership further out of reach, including in his neighborhood.
Raynor remembers discussing housing affordability with Ezeonu, who was preparing to buy a home. He encouraged the young council member to draw on that experience when making decisions for the city.
“Everyone always talks about what the future looks like, but with him being as young as he was, he is really fighting for his future,” Raynor said.
Ezeonu also wants to repeal or revise Senate Bill 840, which requires qualifying cities to permit apartment and mixed-use development on certain commercial land without rezoning. The law’s author, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, promoted it as a way to expand housing supply. Ezeonu wants more local control.
The transition to Austin will bring a learning curve, Ezeonu said. He is meeting with legislators and continuing conversations with residents while relying on the people who have advised him throughout his political career.
Ezeonu wants constituents to measure his first session by progress on education, housing and their financial well-being, along with how well he keeps them informed. His policy priorities for Austin — higher pay and lower costs for residents — build on those he brought to Grand Prairie, and he also plans to keep the promise he made when he first knocked on doors asking for their votes: be transparent about his work.
“I have a great village behind me that supports me, that advises me, that is there for me, and I’m so grateful,” he said.
Dang Le is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org.
The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Fort Worth.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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