Voters in key North Texas races took aim at weak leaders and corrupt politicians, declaring loud and clear that they’ve had enough:

Most notable was Eric Johnson’s resounding defeat of District 100 State Rep. Terri Hodge, whose name remained on the ballot, despite her guilty plea in the Dallas City Hall corruption probe. Some supporters insisted on campaigning for her anyway, but the majority of voters smartly saw through that ploy.

Johnson may be the best thing to happen to this district in a long time. The Harvard-educated lawyer, who was raised in this district, rallied voters with a message focused on inspiring youth and improving education. Voters in this largely southern Dallas district evidently share his vision and want to end the era of machine-style politics.

Dallas County voters also made clear that they want more effective leadership on the Commissioners Court, sending incumbent Judge Jim Foster packing. His lackluster job performance and frequent clashes with other county officials undermined his effectiveness. Democratic voters correctly opted for a house cleaning.

Civil attorney Clay Jenkins won our support — along with that of most voters — by demonstrating preparedness and knowledge of the issues. The defeat of Foster hopefully will encourage a new atmosphere of cooperation as commissioners address their toughest issues, top among them being the budget and an ongoing corruption probe of local constables.

We had hoped voters would make the commissioners’ job easier by delivering a resounding primary blow to Constables Jaime Cortes and Derick Evans for their alleged abuses in office. Cortes, at least, appeared heading into a runoff, but Evans disappointingly appeared to have won outright.

Overall, this primary challenged the public to dig deeper, take note of late-breaking developments in the news and overcome the temptation to vote for familiar names. The result showed impressively that North Texas voters are paying attention and will reject those who abuse their trust.