District 11 Council Member Jaynie Shultz has said that she will not run for reelection in 2025.
Photo courtesy of Jaynie Shultz.
First elected in 2021, Shultz, 64, told The Advocate she feels it was time to begin looking at her next chapter.
“I’ve been slowly deciding whether or not this is the right thing for me to do,” Shultz said. “So really it was a combination of me completing the things that were on my list of things that I wanted to get accomplished, as well as, you know, where I am in life, in terms of age and my family. So it was both of those factors that really helped me make this decision.”
Before serving on the City Council, Shultz was a businesswoman and served on the Dallas City Plan Commission from 2014 to 2020, being named vice chair in 2019. She also served on the Urban Design Committee from 2014 to 2020.
In 2021, with Council Member Lee Kleinman ineligible to run after four terms, Shultz was elected to the council after a runoff election which saw her best Barry Wernick by 653 votes. In 2023, Shultz won reelection by over 1,000 votes.
“Our residents, District 11 residents, are really good people who care about this City, so it’s been such a privilege to be able to work with them,” Shultz said.
In her time on City Council, Shultz has spearheaded the rebranding of the Galleria-Valley View Mall area as the Dallas International District.
Shultz’s role in the Pepper Square rezoning and redevelopment has garnered significant criticism. The project, which aims to revitalize an aging shopping center with over 1,000 high rise apartments, has faced criticism from neighbors and neighborhood associations over traffic and safety concerns.
“I’ve been doing zoning for 10 years,” Shutlz said. “And it’s no more challenging than what Preston Hollow village was, you know, or some of the other projects that we took on in District 11.”
Shultz told The Advocate she will remain involved around District 11.
“Now that I’m on a countdown, I will be more passionate than ever about getting things done,” Shultz said.
