Carolyn King Arnold will once again represent the residents of Dallas City Council’s District 4.

Arnold beat Keyaira D. Saunders with 59 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s special runoff election to fill the council seat vacated by disgraced ex-Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway.

Arnold and Saunders made the December 11 runoff after finishing first and second in a field of 13 in the November 6 special election to replace Caraway. Over 14,000 District 4 voters participated in the November contest; 2,596 cast ballots in Tuesday’s runoff — 5.47 percent of the district’s 47,433 registered voters.

Arnold previously held the District 4 seat from 2015 to 2017 after term limits forced Caraway, in office since 2007, to sit out a term. In May 2017, Caraway won the seat back from Arnold by 207 votes, with just 3,300 voters participating in that election, and was selected to serve as Mayor Pro Tem.

Caraway was forced to resign August 9 after pleading guilty to federal public corruption charges in the Dallas County Schools bribery and money laundering scandal. Caraway admitted accepting $450,000 in bribes in exchange for influencing council decisions to benefit his co-conspirators.

Arnold will complete the remainder of Caraway’s unexpired term. All 14 Dallas City Council seats, as well as the mayoral spot, are up for election in May 2019. Council members oversee an annual budget that tops a billion dollars.

Erin Anderson

Erin Anderson is a Senior Journalist for Texas Scorecard, reporting on state and local issues, events, and government actions that impact people in communities throughout Texas and the DFW Metroplex. A native Texan, Erin grew up in the Houston area and now lives in Collin County.

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