Denton city council member Jesse Davis faces a recall election in May after he declined to vote for a proposal to decriminalize low level marijuana possession and against a resolution that recommends not using city funds to investigate violations of the state’s abortion law.

Davis represents District 3, and residents in that district garnered the necessary 254 signatures on the recall petition, which stated that Davis defied the will of the majority of the residents in his district.

The City Council voted unanimously on Feb. 7 to hold the recall election.

Ironically, Davis will be listed on the ballot twice because he is also running for his third council term. If he wins the election for his council seat, the recall won’t take effect.

Denton voters in November approved a proposition to decriminalize low level marijuana possession. Davis said in an email to the Star-Telegram that he voted to accept the election results but he and others declined to adopt the proposition.

“Much easier to invent a new ‘fact’ that fits a divisive narrative,” Davis said.

Denton attorney Richard Gladden, who helped organize the recall effort against Davis said he lives in District 3 and is tired of Davis’s political antics.

“I’ve had enough of his right-wing extremist policies, and he’s got to go,” Gladden said.

Although the council approved the election results on the proposition to decriminalize low levels of marijuana possession, it also needed to to adopt the ordinance.

In 2019, the Legislature legalized hemp, and came up with a definition to differentiate it from marijuana, which is virtually indistinguishable by sight and smell. A lab test is the only way to tell if a substance has more or less than 0.3% of THC.

Davis said voters have the ability to hold someone to account, but he said the petition doesn’t have to be true.

“There’s no independent fact checking, there’s no investigation, there’s nobody double-checking,” he said.

Davis said he spoke to several people who signed the petition, and “in retrospect” they didn’t know what they were signing, he said.

Davis told the Denton Record Chronical in January that the petition was about political retribution as he wasn’t contacted to discuss his position on policies.

This story was originally published February 10, 2023, 4:13 PM.