Voter turnout was predictably low in most local elections across the state Saturday, but all Texas taxpayers will feel the impact of decisions made by just a handful of their neighbors.
Officials elected to city councils and school boards largely determine the size of your property tax bills. Other local taxing entities add billions in bond debt that’s also repaid with your property tax dollars. As long as voters show little interest in the outcomes of local elections, candidates with equally little concern for local taxpayers’ money will continue to be elected.
Metroplex voters did elect or re-elect some candidates committed to fiscally responsible local governance, including three of the seven DFW-area candidates endorsed by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. Two more are headed to runoffs in June.
Below are results from races in the region, by county. An asterisk denotes an incumbent. “TFR” indicates a candidate endorsed by Texans For Fiscal Responsibility.
Collin County
Countywide voter turnout was an anemic six percent, but hit double digits in several localities with hot-button issues and races on the ballot. In Fairview, for example, where last November 25 percent of voters overwhelmingly voted to defeat a $25 million bond proposition, over 18 percent turned out this time to vote incumbent councilmembers out of office.
Allen’s one contested City Council seat is headed for a runoff, while Frisco’s two incumbents on the ballot retained their seats. McKinney and Plano hold odd-year elections.
Allen City Council – 5.5% turnout
- Place 1 – Kurt Kizer*
- Place 3 – Lauren Doherty (41.05%), Shirley Mangrum (31.09%), Luke Hollingsworth (27.86%) [Runoff]
- Place 5 – Gary Caplinger*
Allen ISD – 5.4% turnout
- Place 1 – Sarah Mitchell (64.32%), Wayne Terrell (35.68%)
- Place 2 – David Noll* (71.14%), Neil Fonville (28.86%)
- Place 3 – John Montgomery*
- Place 7 (unexpired term) – Vatsa Ramanathan* (77.9%), Kareem Elsaw (22.1%)
Fairview – 18.6% turnout
- Seat 2 – Cynthia Brugge (60.36%), John Adler* (39.64%)
- Seat 4 – Anthony Mattei (51.33%), Nancy Lewis (48.67%)
- Seat 6 – Roland Feldman (60.5%), Renee Powell* (39.5%)
Frisco City Council
- Place 1 – John Keating* (50.99%), K.D. Warach (29.09%), Jason Money (19.92%)
- Place 3 – Will Sowell* (72.36%), David Bowsher (27.64%)
Frisco ISD
- Place 6 – John Classe*
- Place 7 – Rene Archambault (65%), Linda McConnell (35%)
Lucas City Council – 14.1% turnout
- Seat 3 (At Large) – Steve Duke* [TFR] (87.4%), Robin Ahmadi (12.6%)
- Seat 4 (At Large) – Phil Lawrence* (65.3%), Jamie Kilpatrick (34.7%)
- Mayor – Jim Olk*
Lovejoy ISD – 16.3% turnout
- Place 6 – Al Litchenburg* (53.98%), Jennifer Kline (46.02%)
- Place 7 – Scott Christiansen*
Parker City Council – 22.3% turnout
- Mayor – Lee Pettle (56.29%), Joe Cordina (43.71%)
- At Large (2 seats) – Patrick Taylor (31.73%), Edwin Smith (28.33%), Terry Lynch [TFR] (22.76%), Kimberly Hinshaw (9.76%), Paula Johnston-Hutka (7.41%)
Prosper Town Council – 10.2% turnout
- Place 2 – Chris Kern [TFR] (38.49%), Craig Andres (35.29%), Lucy Towle (13.24%), Norma Hutchins (7.02%), Eve Henry (4.71%), Carl Ackermann (1.24%) [Runoff]
- Place 6 – Jason Dixon* (53.02%), Phyllis Hoffschwelle (35.19%), Scott Fisher (11.79%)
Prosper ISD – 5.6% turnout
- Place 4 – Bill Beavers (66.85%), Kelly P. Cavender (33.15%)
- Place 7 – Mays Davenport*
Wylie City Council – 4% turnout
- Place 2 – Matthew Porter [TFR] (65.09%), Steve Wright (25.17%), Ned Petersen (9.74%)
- Place 4 – Candy Arrington*
Dallas County
With no City of Dallas elections on the ballot, the race to watch was the single contested seat on the Dallas school board. Incumbent District 9 Trustee Bernadette Nutall is headed for a runoff after coming in second behind challenger Justin Henry.
Turnout countywide was 5.6 percent.
Carrollton City Council
- Place 1 – Steve Babick (54.90%), James Lawrence* (34.30%), Therese Beckley (10.80%)
- Place 3 – Pat Cochran (51.77%), Richard Fleming (41.95%), Zul Mohamed (6.29%)
- Place 5 – Glen Blanscet*
- Place 7 – John Sutter* (79.17%), Austin Stroh (20.83%)
Carrollton Bond Propositions:
- A – $78 million for Streets (88.59% pass)
- B – $6.25 million for Public safety facilities (84.70% pass)
- C – $22.42 million for Parks and recreation (80.78% pass)
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD
- 2 At-Large Seats (candidates elected by cumulative voting) – Sally Derrick (44.42%), John Matthews* (25.54%), John Black (15.25%), Nic Rady (14.79%)
Coppell City Council
- Mayor – Karen Hunt* (65.35%), Davin Bernstein (34.65%)
- Place 2 – Brianna Hinojosa-Flores*
- Place 4 – Gary Roden*
- Place 6 – Biju K. Mathew (48.69%), John Jun (40.99%), Aaron Bitter (10.32%)
Coppell ISD
- Place 2 (unexpired term) – Manish Sethi (67.74%), Balki Chamkura (32.26%)
- Place 6 – Nichole Bentley (60.68%), Lynne Ryan (23.39%), Dan Koller (15.93%)
- Place 7 – Tracy Fisher* (62.75%), Ron Hansen (37.25%)
Dallas ISD
- District 1 – Edwin Flores*
- District 3 – Dan Micciche*
- District 9 – Justin Henry (47.04%), Bernadette Nutall* (31.52%), Edward Turner (20.02%), Ona Marie Hendricks (1.43%) [Runoff]
Dallas County Community College District
- District 1 – Sonny Williams*
- District 7 – Charletta Rogers Compton* (57.66%), Michael Jackson (42.34%)
Garland City Council
- Mayor – Lori Barnett Dodson (55.31%), Louis Moore (33.76%), Leala Green (10.93%)
- District 2 – Deborah Morris (83.40%), Rex Wisdom (16.60%)
Irving City Council
- Place 6 – Shayan Elahi (46.67%), Albert Zapanta (46.13%), Shamima Mondai (7.20%) [Runoff]
Irving ISD
- District 4 – Nuzhat Hye (75.69%), Kendrick Perry (18.38%), Sanko S. Prioleau III (5.93%)
Highland Park ISD
- Place 1 – Jim Hitzelberger*
- Place 2 – Lee Elizabeth Michaels (83.50%), Renee Arumugam (16.50%)
Sachse City Council
- Place 1 – Brett Franks* (63.55%), Teddy Kinzer (36.34%)
- Place 2 – Michelle Howarth (34.91%), Frank Millsap (33.53%), Charlie Ross* (19.59%), Ammar Qashshu (11.98%)
University Park
- Mayor – Olin Lane, Jr.*
- 4 At-Large Seats – Liz Farley (22.11%), Gage Prichard* (19.84%), Taylor Armstrong* (19.81%), Randy Biddle* (18.97%), Nick Farris (16.40%), Jeff Barker (2.87%)
Denton County
Voters in Denton County overwhelmingly approved the third-largest school bond proposition in the state — and the largest in the district’s history. City of Denton voters re-elected Mayor Chris Watts by a wide margin.
Corinth City Council
- Place I – Sam Burke*
- Place III – Lowell Johnson* (51.12%), Lindsey Rayl (48.88%)
- Place IV – Tina Henderson (65.93%), Joe Harrison* (34.07%)
Denton City Council
- Place 5 (At Large) – Aaron “Fuzzy” Newquist (46.84%), Deb Armintor (37.83%), Jodi Vicars-Nance (10.97%), Bernard Vokoun (4.36%) [Runoff]
- Place 6 (At Large) – Paul Melzer (54.82%), Frank Dudowicz (39.64%), Brian Menelas (5.54%)
- Place 7 (Mayor) – Chris Watts* (71.16%), Neil Durrance (28.84%)
Denton ISD
- Place 1 – Barbara Burns* (51.57%), Bradley Fritcher (26.38%), Alfredo Sanchez (12.32%), Barry Barnes (9.72%)
- Place 2 – Jeanetta Smith* (43.31%), David Shuck (36.22%), Angela Cid (15.10%), Jonathan Balmos (5.37%)
Denton ISD Bond Proposition
- A – $750 million (77.44% pass)
Flower Mound City Council
- Mayor – Cathy Strathmann (43.21%), Steve Dixon (43.09%), Paul Stone (10.72%), Bill Robinson (2.98%) [Runoff]
- Place 2 – Sandeep Sharma (56.73%), Albert Picardi (43.27%)
- Place 4 – Jim Engel (55.12%), Don McDaniel* (33.29%), Tony Lawrence (11.60%)
Highland Village City Council
- Place 1 (Mayor) – Charlotte Wilcox* (88.70%), Eric Aplis (11.30%)
- Place 2 – Jon Kixmiller (45.44%), Jim Archibald (18.68%), Dave Shilling (17.62%), David True (10.93%), Jason Edwards (7.32%) [Runoff]
- Place 4 – Barbara Fleming*
- Place 6 – Robert Fiester (66.37%), Edward Balboni (33.63%)
Lewisville City Council
- Mayor – Rudy Durham* (56.98%), Winston Edmondson (30.60%), Penny Mallet (12.42%)
- Place 2 – R Neil Ferguson* (47.63%), Ronni Cade (32.96%), Mary Smith (19.41%) [Runoff]
Lewisville ISD
- Place 1 – Kronda Thimesch (55.91%), Sandra Weinstein (44.09%)
- Place 2 – Allison Lassahn (42.69%), David Hernandez (32.23%), Denise Riemenschneider (25.09%)
Little Elm Town Council
- Mayor – David Hillock* (76.73%), Jeff Jones (23.27%)
Little Elm ISD
- Place 4 – DeLeon English* (69.81%), Ed Griffin (30.19%)
- Place 5 – Jason Olson*
Tarrant County
Fewer than five percent of eligible voters approved $650 million in new debt for Tarrant County taxpayers. City of Fort Worth voters approved six bond propositions totaling $399.5 million. Tarrant Regional Water District’s $250 million bond, sold as “flood control” but slated for the Trinity River Vision’s controversial “Panther Island” development project, was approved by 66 percent of the 4.69 percent of voters who participated – just 3.1 percent of the district’s 406,319 registered voters.
Countywide turnout was just over six percent.
Arlington City Council – 5.1–7.6% turnout
- District 1 – Helen Moise (56.11%), Barbara Odom-Wesley (43.89%)
- District 2 – Sheri Capehart*
- District 6 – Robert Shepard* (65.86%), Chris “Dobi” Dobson (34.14%)
- District 7 – Victoria Farrar-Myers*
Arlington ISD – 5.58% turnout
- Place 1 – Polly Walton* (76.61%), Luis Castillo (23.39%)
- Place 2 – Melody Fowler (53.74%), Kristen Hudson* (46.26%)
- Place 3 – Aaron Reich* (75.44%), Roger DeFrang (24.56%)
- Place 5 – Justin Chapa* (77.41%), Hunter Crow (22.59%)
Bedford City Council – 11% turnout
- Place 1 – Rusty Sartor*
- Place 2 – Dan Cogan (54.01%), Dave Gebhart* (45.99%)
Carroll ISD – 6.29% turnout
- Place 4 – Matt Bryant (49.60%), Eric Lannen (38.28%), Dudley Jordan (12.12%)
- Place 5 – Danny Gilpin*
- Place 7 – David Almand*
Colleyville City Council – 14.62% turnout
- Place 5 – Chuck Kelley [TFR] (56.92%), Wayne Maynard (43.08%)
- Place 6 – Callie Rigney
Fort Worth Bond Propositions – $399.5 million total – 4.36% turnout
- A – $261.63 million for Streets (80.59% pass)
- B – $84.18 million for Parks & Recreation (73.89% pass)
- C – $9.868 million for Libraries (76.26% pass)
- D – $11.975 million for Public safety (82.47% pass)
- E – $13.77 million for Animal shelters (73.76% pass)
- F – $18.075 million for Police facilities (80.25% pass)
Grapevine City Council – 10.11% turnout
- Mayor – William Tate*
- Place 1 – Paul Slechta*
- Place 2 – Sharron Spencer* (67.13%), Carlos Merla (32.87%)
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD – 12% turnout
- Place 1 – Mindy McClure* (53.02%), Tim Raine [TFR] (46.98%)
- Place 2 –Becky St. John* (49.99%), Amy Putnam [TFR] (49.88%), Nick Walters (0.13%) [Runoff]
Keller City Council – 11.5% turnout
- Place 1 – Mitch Holmes (50.24%), Debbie Bryan* (49.76%)
- Place 2 – Vandolyn Roszell (35.52%), Sean Hicks (33.89%), Joe Markham (16.39%), Liz Scripter (14.20%) [Runoff]
Keller ISD
- Place 6 – Brad Schofield*
- Place 7 – Ruthie Keyes*
Tarrant Regional Water District – 4.69% turnout
- A – $250 million bond for Flood control/Panther Island development project (66.17% pass)
Runoffs for local races will be held on June 16.