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Dallas businesswoman Kristy Noble was sworn in Thursday morning as the new chairwoman of the Dallas County Democratic Party.

Noble, 50, emerged victorious after hours of voting in a five-person race to replace Carol Donovan, who announced in May that she was resigning after six years as chairwoman of the party.

She promised to bolster her partys machinery and help Texas Democrats win statewide races, something the state party hasnt done since 1994. But Dallas County Democrats have dominated local politics, though Noble says there are still opportunities for improvement.

There is still room to increase the Democratic turnout in Dallas County, specifically in some of the gerrymandered safe districts, Noble told The News on Thursday. We have room to get more Democrats out to vote in areas that are primarily Democrat voting. We just have to have more focus on those areas, and there are still legislative seats that are not blue in Dallas County

During Donovans term Democrats wiped out all but two Republican statehouse members with districts entirely in Dallas County University Parks Morgan Meyer and Garlands Angie Chen Button. Both Republican lawmakers will be targets for Democrats in 2022.

And Noble said Dallas County could play a pivotal role in flipping Texas from red to blue.

If were going to really push to turn Texas blue, which is ultimate goal, we need every representative out of Dallas County to be a Democrat.

Noble is co-founder of the Funky East Dallas Democrats, one of the most active political clubs in Dallas County. She beat several candidates in an in-person/virtual election to win the seat. Now shell complete Donovans unexpired term.

It took three rounds of voting Wednesday for precinct leaders to select a winner. The election ended around midnight, with Noble finishing ahead of Dallas lawyer Millie Domenech, former DeSoto council member Candice Quarles and two other contenders.

Nobles priorities include increasing voter turnout in the south and southwest portions of the county, expanding the partys donor base and making the party more transparent and inclusive.

In some areas of Dallas County, particularly in the south, precinct leadership posts are vacant, meaning that those areas arent fully empowered to turn out votes or exercise their clout at party meetings. And though Democrats rely heavily on Black and Hispanic voters, there has never been a Black or Hispanic person to lead the local party.

Noble told The News that shell be an inclusive leader and help build the party across all areas of the county.

With the existing precinct chairs, we empower them by charging them with the following: How do we get out the vote? How do we register voters? And how do we build a more Democratic, active community within each of their neighborhoods and precincts? she said. We then listen to them and empower them to start that process. If we can do that with existing precinct chairs, thats going to build the momentum in those areas.

Since 2006, Democrats have dominated Dallas County politics, winning nearly every contested countywide race. The exception was 2014, when Republican Susan Hawk beat incumbent Democrat Craig Watkins to become Dallas County district attorney. In 2018, former state District Judge John Creuzot reclaimed the seat for Democrats.

Donovan wished her successor the best.

Though I look forward to my retirement, I will miss the adventures, the excitement and mostly, the people with whom I worked, Donovan said in a statement released by the local party. The party welcomes the new chair and I wish her a successful term.

Dallas County voters in the 2022 Democratic primary will pick the next chairperson of the local party. That race, expected to be held in the spring, will feature voters across the entire county, not just the partys precinct leaders.

Noble said she will run for reelection in 2022.

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Kristy Noble elected to lead the Dallas County Democratic Party - The Dallas Morning News