Two candidates are competing in a special runoff election Tuesday to fill the Dallas City Council District 4 seat vacated by disgraced Democrat Dwaine Caraway.
Carolyn King Arnold and Keyaira D. 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. Tuesday’s winner will complete Caraway’s unexpired term. All 14 city council seats, as well as the mayoral spot, are on the ballot in May 2019.
Caraway was forced to resign from council August 9 after pleading guilty to federal public corruption charges in the Dallas County Schools bribery and money laundering scandal. Sentencing for Caraway and four other co-conspirators who pleaded guilty has been delayed until next year.
Arnold won the District 4 seat in 2015, when Caraway was forced to sit out due to term limits, but lost to Caraway in 2017. Arnold, the top finisher in November with 26 percent of the vote, is the front-runner over 29-year-old social-justice activist Saunders.
A total of 804 votes have been cast during early voting in the runoff. In November, over 14,000 District 4 voters cast ballots in the special election. In May 2017, only 3,300 voters participated in the District 4 race between Arnold and Caraway.
Voters can find runoff election information on the Dallas County Elections website.