Democrats dominated Tuesday's elections with a historic sweepof Texas' statewide offices, and one winner's resume may be equally as surprising as Texas turning blue.
Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson is a state senator and lawyer from Fort Worth. He also happens to have composed music for the popular anime franchise, “Dragon Ball Z,”and is credited with composing the full musical scores in 67 episodes of the show's English-language release, as well as for five of the franchise's movies between 2005 and 2006.
So how did he go from Super Saiyan soundtracks to Texas' top attorney?
The ‘Dragon Ball Z' English dub was produced by Funimation Productions (now called Crunchyroll, LLC), which was located in the Fort Worth suburb of North Richland Hills in the early 2000s. At the time, Johnson owned a music production company and had an opportunity to create soundtracks for the show.
Speaking with the Texas Standard’s Laura Rice this week, Johnson said he uses the creative parts of his brain to look at problems and find solutions in a different way.
“It’s certainly fun and it reminds everybody that all of us are real people and we’ve had real lives,” he said. “I do believe that work as an artist, work as a composer, allows you to look at the world in ways that you otherwise could not and see things from different angles and consider things and look at relationships that other people don’t see.”
In a video on social media, Johnson said he enjoyed the unique experience.
In 2018, Johnson was elected as a state senator representing Texas’ 16th Senate District — which covers parts of Dallas County — after defeating Republican incumbent Don Huffines. Johnson was again elected to represent the 16th District in 2024.
Johnson, a Democrat, defeated Republican State Rep. Mays Middleton during Tuesday’s historic midterm election. Johnson garnered 52.4% of the vote compared to Middleton’s 45.9%.
Johnson will be the first Democratic Texas Attorney General since Dan Morales, who was in office from 1991-1999.
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