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Dallas County’s top official wants to change how the public refers to him: It’s now Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins.
Lewis Jenkins, who has held the office of county judge since 2011, wants his father’s last name wrapped into his identity.
“If given the choice, I prefer to have it there,” he said in an interview.
Lewis Jenkins, 58, has referred to himself as “Clay Jenkins” when running for office, but already uses his father’s last name, Lewis, on legislation and his county dais nameplate. According to The Dallas Morning News archives, Lewis Jenkins has included “Lewis” in his nameplate and agendas since taking office.
Lewis Jenkins’ father, Alvah Clayburn Lewis, died of a heart attack in 1971, when Lewis Jenkins was 7 years old.
His mother, JoAnn Jenkins, married attorney Warwick H. Jenkins, who adopted Lewis Jenkins and his sister when he was a teenager, Lewis Jenkins said. He took the Jenkins name at 19.
Lewis Jenkins said when you run for political office, political consultants advise candidates to keep their names short, so voters remember. On the 2022 ballot, the judge ran as “Clay Jenkins.” The News has referred to him as such since his first campaign in 2009.
He said he doesn’t mind if people continue to call him “Judge Jenkins,” “Clay” or “Mr. Jenkins” when they run into him. But if given the option, Lewis Jenkins wants to include “Lewis” in the name to remember his father and his family.
“My father died too young. He was a great dad. My grandmother helped raise me, and she was a wonderful woman,” Lewis Jenkins said. “It’s just a way to honor my family.”