A Dallas congressional candidate used his own pulpit to send worshippers straight to the ballot box last Sunday — at the very church that doubles as an active Dallas County polling site. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church and the Democratic nominee for Texas's 30th Congressional District, told congregants they could vote at the church and directed them toward a door to do so right after services, according to videos reviewed by the Dallas Express.
Pastor Steers Congregation Toward the Polls
Haynes has led Friendship-West Baptist Church in South Dallas for more than four decades, according to The Guardian, and is now seeking to succeed U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the 30th District. Per the Dallas Express, the videos show Haynes inviting candidates to join him at the front of the sanctuary and promoting curbside voting for congregants with mobility limitations. The church's banquet hall foyer, at 2020 W. Wheatland Road, appears on Dallas County's current early voting and Election Day lists, a fact separately confirmed by Yahoo News, which reported that early voting runs October 19 through 30 ahead of the November 3 general election.
Among the remarks Haynes reportedly made from the pulpit was praise for Alisa Simmons, the Tarrant County commissioner for Precinct 2 and the Democratic nominee challenging Republican incumbent County Judge Tim O'Hare. Haynes called for Simmons to come forward and, addressing congregants from Tarrant County, said “we got you,” per the videos cited by the Dallas Express. Simmons's county judge race appears on Tarrant County ballots, not Dallas County's, meaning voters cannot actually cast ballots for her at Friendship-West — even as Haynes's own congressional race appears on Dallas County ballots in District 30.
Republicans Call It a Conflict of Interest
The arrangement has drawn sustained criticism from Dallas-area Republicans. The Dallas County Republican Party has asked officials to remove Friendship-West from the polling-place list because Haynes is a candidate, according to a previous Dallas Express report, and separately told Baptist News Global that the church hosting voting while its pastor is on the ballot presents a conflict of interest. Republican congressional candidate Everett Jackson, who is running against Haynes for the same seat, led a protest outside the church two weeks ago and urged election officials to stop using it as a polling location while Haynes seeks federal office, Yahoo News reported.
Ajua Mason said a candidate-pastor directing his congregation to vote at his own church right after services creates an obvious imbalance. Texas election guidance restricts electioneering within 100 feet of voter entrances at active polling places and separately bars amplified electioneering within 1,000 feet, according to the Texas Secretary of State. Those restrictions apply to candidates even when their names do not appear on that particular ballot, the guidance states, though a violation of the relevant Texas Election Code sections is classified only as a Class C misdemeanor. The time of Haynes's remarks and their distance from actual voting operations remain unverified, and Friendship-West did not respond to the Dallas Express's request for comment.
Endorsements Add Another Layer
Both Haynes and Simmons have received endorsements from CAIR Action, which describes itself as a 501(c)(4) affiliate of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Governor Greg Abbott designated CAIR a foreign terrorist organization and transnational criminal organization under Texas law in November 2025, and CAIR's Texas affiliates have challenged that proclamation in federal court, according to the Dallas Express.
Churches as Polling Places, Elsewhere and at Home
Friendship-West is one of 14 churches listed as polling places for Dallas County's midterm elections, Baptist News Global reported, part of a broader national pattern in which churches made up 20% of mapped U.S. polling sites in 2022 — some 12,875 houses of worship. At least 14 Democratic clergy members are running in this year's midterms across a dozen states, per The Guardian. Not every church with a candidate-pastor has kept its polling designation: two campuses of Resurrection Church near Kansas City were pulled as polling places because their pastor, Adam Hamilton, is running for U.S. Senate as a Democrat, with officials saying the shift avoided voting at what was considered Hamilton's “place of business,” Baptist News Global reported. By contrast, Cornerstone Church in San Antonio — led by televangelist John Hagee and his son, Matt Hagee — remains a polling place without similar objection, the outlet noted.
