Voters in Frisco and Denton chose new mayors in Saturday’s local runoff elections.
Mark Hill easily won the runoff for Frisco’s open mayoral seat over Rod Vilhauer with 58 percent of the vote.
Turnout topped 25 percent in the hotly contested race to replace outgoing Mayor Jeff Cheney.
Hill, a business attorney and Frisco ISD school board trustee, was endorsed by The Dallas Morning News, a number of local business owners, and several current and former elected officials—including disgraced former Frisco city councilman and school board member Buddy Minett.
Retired businessman Vilhauer’s endorsements included a long list of Republican officeholders and the Denton County Republican Party.
Vilhauer sparked controversy in some quarters by speaking against Sharia law. Both candidates claimed to be free of alleged conflicts of interest involving real estate developers that plagued Cheney’s nine years in office.
The city of Frisco and its voters are split between Denton and Collin counties. A total of 33,778 participated in the runoff election.
Chris Watts won the runoff for Denton mayor over Brian Beck with a 47-vote margin out of more than 15,000 ballots cast.
Watts previously served as the city’s mayor from 2014 to 2020. Beck was a three-term city council member.
George Ferrie won the runoff for Denton City Council Place 5 over Erica Garland with just over 50 percent of the vote.
