BY JADEN MOUNT
Vickers “Vic” Cunningham is a former criminal district judge in Dallas, Texas, and is now a Republican candidate for the Dallas County commission seat. He had received an endorsement from The Dallas Morning News, but that was withdrawn not long after the candidate admitted to what many would consider a bizarre instance of homophobia and racism.
In 2010, Cunningham organized a living trust fund for his children that offers disbursements across a range of milestones. One of these milestones covers Cunningham’s belief on marriage.
Cunningham stated in an interview with The Dallas Morning News’ Naomi Martin, “Milestone is a distribution if you get an advanced degree…the same thing is if you get married. Again, I’m supporting what my beliefs are. I strongly support traditional family values that if you marry a person of the opposite sex, that’s Caucasian, that’s Christian, they will get a distribution.”
The Dallas Morning News had approached Cunningham about the trust after his brother, Bill Cunningham, had told the paper Vic was a lifelong racist. The candidate denied this claim, yet admitted to the milestone that discourages marriage to someone of another race.
In a statement to The Dallas Morning News, Bill said, “His views and his actions are disqualifying for anyone to hold public office in 2018. It frightens me to death to think of people in power who could hurt people.”
Bill is married to PepsiCo Supply Chain Manager Demonse Williams, an African American gay man whom, according to Bill, Vic had referred to as “boy” on numerous occasions. Vic says that Williams is the reason for helping him accept interracial relationships. This is in lew of his acceptance of his son, Vickers “Tex” Cunningham Jr., having a relationship with a Vietnamese woman, but says he would not change the details of the trust.
In text messages between Williams and Vic’s son, Tex says, “I am making my father except [sic] interracial relationships starting with me and my Vietnamese girlfriend. It’s a slow process but he i [sic] have faith in him turning around. And if he doesn’t, he will have one less person at his dinner table.”
Bill was ousted by the Cunningham family as well as written out of the parents’ wills, which Vic and his younger brothers, Ross and Greg, claim has caused significant troubles in Bill’s life. The trio is also claiming Bill is attempting to destroy Vic’s campaign as Vic denied a $45,000 loan to his brother.
Vic Cunningham is running for election in a major minority county. According to The Dallas Morning News, during his time as a district judge, many African Americans and Hispanic individuals were sent to prison. He states that his views related to the trust fund did not impact his decisions on the bench in any way.
The District 2 runoff election takes place today, May 22, where the winner will face the Democratic nominee in the November general election.