{"id":119816,"date":"2026-01-12T11:43:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T11:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/119816\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T11:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T11:43:29","slug":"i-needed-to-pray-about-it-how-frederick-haynes-made-decision-to-run-for-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/119816\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I needed to pray about it.\u2019 How Frederick Haynes made decision to run for Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dallas minister Frederick Haynes III was attending a civil rights summit in Montgomery, Ala., when he learned of a movement to draft him to replace Democrat Jasmine Crockett in Congress.<\/p>\n

The draft Haynes website went up three days before the deadline to file for the March 3 primaries. His cellphone buzzing throughout the day, he concedes he was caught off guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I knew it was serious, and I needed to seriously pray about it,\u201d said Haynes<\/a>, who for the next 48 hours consulted trusted allies.<\/p>\n

He filed a late bid <\/a>for the 30th Congressional District, a decision that reshaped not only his career, but also North Texas politics. It pushed Rep. Marc Veasey, a fellow Democrat from Fort Worth, into early retirement. <\/p>\n

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Haynes, 65, will kick off his campaign with a rally Monday in Fair Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cA church member told me \u2018you were awakened to the next phase of your purpose,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/a><\/p>\n

Unlikely candidate<\/p>\n

Haynes\u2019 path from the pulpit to the stump took shape during debate over last summer\u2019s redistricting plan. At legislative hearings, he spoke against the GOP plan that redrew the state\u2019s congressional boundaries to give Republicans at least five more seats in Congress, including District 32 in North Texas.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

A group of young Democrats then approached Haynes about running for statewide office.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/p>\n

Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III speaks during a rally in opposition to mid-decade redistricting in Texas, on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, at Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas. <\/p>\n

Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them thank you, but no,\u201d he said. But they then \u201cput a full court press on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September, Haynes took a medical leave <\/a>of absence from his mega-church in southern Dallas, Friendship-West Baptist Church, which has long been a hub for prominent Black civic, political and business leadership.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

He said the political recruiters gave him a \u201crespite\u201d to allow him to recover. They were back again as the filing deadline for the 2026 primaries loomed. <\/p>\n

Playing musical chairs<\/p>\n

Before Haynes waltzed in, North Texas Democrats were playing a game of political musical chairs.<\/p>\n

Reps. Crockett, Veasey and Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch were three potential candidates for two seats<\/a>, since Johnson\u2019s District 32 was made more Republican. <\/p>\n

When Crockett announced<\/a> she\u2019d run for the Senate, it looked like the Democratic incumbents would all have a place to land. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

Veasey, whose District 33 was changed to shed all of his Tarrant County base, would go for Crockett\u2019s southern Dallas District 30, which contained a swath of Tarrant County. And Johnson filed for District 33.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey interacts with community members in a voting rights event, on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, at West Dallas Multipurpose Center in Dallas. <\/p>\n

Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

After the draft Haynes\u2019 campaign website went live, Veasey had planned to share his 2026 plans but delayed a decision while waiting to see Haynes\u2019 move.<\/p>\n

Haynes said Veasey called him just before the 6 p.m. filing deadline on Dec. 8. \u201cI shared with him that I had filed,\u201d Haynes said. Veasey wished Haynes well and opted against running in District 30. He filed for Tarrant County judge<\/a>, but a week later pulled out of that primary.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

On NBC5\u2019s Lone Star Politics<\/a> Sunday, Haynes called Veasey a \u201ctremendous leader\u201d and lamented he was leaving Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a loss and I regret that,\u201d Haynes said. \u201cI blame a political process that was weaponized by the White House and the governor of this state that basically said we will engage in racist gerrymandering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crockett\u2019s role<\/p>\n

Crockett and Haynes met several times to discuss 2026 politics.<\/p>\n

Haynes said their early conversations focused on prayer as Crockett weighed a possible Senate race. \u201cIt had nothing to do with me, because this was not on my radar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Haynes said they later discussed his candidacy, and that Crockett told him she would support him.<\/p>\n

Haynes said Crockett gave him \u201csage\u201d advice, but he also reached out to others, including Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett hugs Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III, senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church, as she takes the stage to address a rally at Antioch Fellowship Church on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Smiley N. Pool \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

And Haynes said he reread an autobiography of Adam Clayton Powell Jr., the trailblazing congressman from Harlem, N.Y., whose church leadership propelled him into politics. <\/p>\n

The Montgomery civil rights summit Haynes attended in December commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott. The goal was finding ways to tackle the unfinished business of leaders like Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King.<\/p>\n

Haynes aims to use preaching, social justice activism and coalition building to craft legislative solutions for District 30, where many residents face poverty and despair. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to make a U-turn and go in the right direction,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the same time, I want the next generation to be prepared to step in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas minister Frederick Haynes III was attending a civil rights summit in Montgomery, Ala., when he learned of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2353,2671,102,104,103,288,3481,15926,287],"class_list":{"0":"post-119816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-commentary","9":"tag-congress","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-headlines","12":"tag-dallas-news","13":"tag-elections","14":"tag-jasmine-crockett","15":"tag-marc-veasey","16":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}