Supporters of Dallas County district attorney candidate Amber Givens attended her campaign fundraiser Monday at Whiskeys on Exposition Avenue in Dallas.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
At her first major campaign event since a write-in challenger entered the race, Dallas County district attorney candidate Amber Givens urged supporters to reignite the energy that led to her surprising victory in the March 3 Democratic primary.
“Tonight is about carrying the momentum from March all the way to Nov. 3,” Givens told the dozens of supporters who paid $50 each to attend the rally Monday night at a South Dallas bar. “We’re not gonna just show up to the polls. We’re gonna flood the polls. Can I hear y’all say flood?” The crowd eagerly responded.
Until a few weeks ago, Givens was the only candidate for the job. Republicans had not fielded anyone for the general election and Givens was preparing her transition. But on Aug. 19, longtime Dallas attorney Eric Reed announced he was entering the race as a write-in.
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Reed said he shared other lawyers’ “shock and concern” with Givens’ primary upset over two-term incumbent John Creuzot and decided to challenge her despite the overwhelming odds against him.
Write-in candidates are required to run as nonpartisan in Texas. Reed said he identified as an independent and moderate.
“Right now, we’re building our ground game and focused on educating voters on why Eric’s the best choice and how to do a write-in,” Reed’s spokesperson Suzette Brewer said Tuesday in an email to The Dallas Morning News. “We have several private fundraising events coming up, as well as some speaking opportunities that will give Eric a chance to lay out his case directly to the voters.”
Dallas County district attorney write-in andidate Eric Reed and Democratic nominee Amber Givens.
Shafkat Anowar and Elias Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News
While Reed’s path to victory is extraordinarily steep – he’ll need to convince hundreds of thousands of voters to write in his name in a Democratic stronghold – Givens has taken notice.
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After his announcement, she stopped referring to herself as district attorney-elect, and her social media posts began urging supporters to “flood the polls” in November.
As she worked her way through the room Monday, Givens smiled and laughed as she stopped to talk with the many lawyers there to support her.
Some, like Dallas criminal defense attorneys Tom Cox and his colleague Rebekah Dall’Asen, had backed Creuzot in the Democratic primary.
Both lawyers had also been called to testify against Givens at a trial earlier this year before a Special Court of Review at the Texas Supreme Court in Austin to determine whether the former felony court judge should be sanctioned for judicial misconduct. And both were among the dozens of members of the Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association who had alleged Givens was biased against them when they sought to have her recused from cases.
Related: Dallas County DA candidate Amber Givens no longer unopposed after write-in candidate files
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After Givens’ primary win, Cox said he and other members of his law firm discussed how they should move forward.
“We decided the voters have spoken and we need to go to her and apologize and ask how we can make things right,” Cox said. “She said, ‘All is forgiven.’ She wasn’t holding any grudges.”
Then she quickly put them to work, Cox said, persuading them to host campaign events for her and attend meetings with her and other attorneys.
Givens presided over Dallas County’s 282nd District Court for 11 years before she resigned in December to run for district attorney.
In July 2025, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct publicly reprimanded and admonished her after members of the Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association filed complaints against her.
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The attorneys’ group alleged that Givens had harshly treated lawyers appearing before her and allowed a staff member to stand in for her during a virtual bond hearing. The commission also determined she had taken action in two criminal cases after she had been recused from them.
Givens appealed, and a trial was held in February before the Special Court of Review, during which she testified and denied the allegations. The court in July dismissed all sanctions. The special court, which consisted of three appellate judges from across the state, said the commission’s lawyers had failed to prove their case against Givens.
As she thanked her supporters for coming Monday, Givens acknowledged that some were not always on her side, and that she was happy to have them join her.
“Some of y’all are day ones. Some of y’all are day twos, threes, fours. It doesn’t matter, right?” she told the group. “We are all in this for the people. We are all in this to create a fair and just system that holds all accountable, right?”