SAN FRANCISCO — The Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, the Dallas pastor who grew up in the pews of Third Baptist Church on McAllister Street, has won a seat in the U.S. House.
CBS News projected Tuesday night that Haynes, a Democrat, defeated Republican Everett Jackson in Texas’ 30th Congressional District. He will succeed Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a member of his church, who gave up the seat to run for the U.S. Senate. It will be his first time in public office.
One week ago, on Oct. 28, Haynes was back at Third Baptist, delivering the eulogy for Leona M. Bridges.
A San Francisco family
Haynes was born in Dallas in 1960, and his father moved the family to San Francisco. His grandfather, the Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes Sr., led Third Baptist from 1932 until his death in 1971, growing it from about 150 members to 3,000. In 1945 the elder Haynes became the first African American to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He ran again in 1947 and 1951. In 1956 the mayor appointed him to the Public Library Commission.
His son, Frederick Douglass Haynes Jr., followed him into Third Baptist’s pulpit. He died when the younger Haynes was 14, on the first day of high school.
Haynes went on to graduate as valedictorian of Abraham Lincoln High School. The Rev. Amos Brown, Third Baptist’s longtime pastor, who has known him since he was a teenager, ordained him to the ministry.
Dallas
After Bishop College, Haynes became senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas in 1983. The congregation had about 100 members then. Today it has more than 13,000, and it has become one of the country’s best-known churches for social justice work. In 2023 he was named to succeed the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the head of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and stepped down a few months later.
His campaign centered on economic opportunity, voting rights and criminal justice reform. Crockett endorsed him.
The 30th District, redrawn in 2025, covers most of southern Dallas County and a small part of Tarrant County. Haynes will be sworn in with the new Congress in January.
Read The Sun-Reporter’s 2023 profile: Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III appointed head of Rainbow Coalition.
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