Citywide Arlington Council race to face likely runoff. Here are the candidates
While mail-in votes are still being counted in Tarrant County, one at-large Arlington City Council appears headed to a Dec. 8 runoff election following a crowded primary.
Incumbent Victoria Farrar-Myers, who’s held the District 7 Council seat since 2016, will face first-time opponent Antoine Lane. Farrar-Myers captured 47.47% and Lane received 20.37% votes, according to unofficial election results with all voting centers reporting.
They are the top finishers in a four-person race, where opponents Chris “Dobi” Dobson received 17.36% and Hunter Crow received 14.81%.
Farrar-Myers said she’s encouraged by early voting and election day results, even if she did not receive the support needed for an outright victory.
“I’m just really humbled and honored that I got as much support as I did during an unprecedented November election that City Council’s never been in,” she said.
Lane said he expected to perform well in the primary and will step up his campaigning headed into December.
“This is do or die now,” he said.
The Council race is one of four Arlington residents took up during the general election. In at-large District 6, Ruby Faye Woolridge won the race against John Hibbs by just under 2,000 votes. Raul Gonzalez defeated Jo Anna Cardoza to represent Southwest Arlington in District 2, and District 1 incumbent Helen Moise won another term over challenger J.J. Fenceroy.
Council races are typically decided in May; however, the city pushed the elections to November due to the coronavirus pandemic. Consequently, all races received record turnout — the District 7 race received over 98,000 votes.
“In a normal race, 20,000 (ballots) is an unusually large turnout,” said Richard Greene, a Star-Telegram columnist and former Arlington mayor.
The high turnout, paired with increased Democratic Party attention to city and Tarrant County races, may have affected both at-large elections, he said. Where the other two seats up for election in District 1 and 2 played out more predictably, Greene said, the at-large seats “had pretty big question marks” surrounding their turnout.
Runoff turnout may resemble spring Council races, Greene said, possibly benefiting Farrar-Myer’s campaign.
“That’s pretty quick to get back to the ballot box and make a final decision on that race, so we’ll see,” Greene said.
Meanwhile, both Lane and Farrar-Myers aims to remind people that their races are not over just yet.
Lane has run primarily in support of a $500 million investment in economic development to support Black residents. His other platforms include improving the quality of education and finding inter-city transportation solutions for the city and surrounding areas.
Lane said his economic development plans resonate beyond Black voters and to people disgruntled with “establishment” candidates, or those who prominent business groups and local agencies back in elections. Lane said those candidates were more likely to have supported development of Globe Life Field and the sales tax initiatives that bode poorly for most of the city.
“Voters around the city, they understand that we’ve been giving all our money away to big businesses and they aren’t doing anything but raising our rents and making it harder for us,” Lane said.
Farrar-Myers, a former political science professor at UT Arlington and Southern Methodist University, was first elected in May 2016 and serves as mayor pro tempore. She also chairs the Council’s Municipal Policy Committee and the Tarrant County Homeless Continuum of Care.
Farrar-Myers’ platforms in 2020 include fostering community growth through neighborhood groups and public-private programs, improving city streets and transportation, supporting small business development, responsible use of city taxes and supporting public safety officers.
In speaking with people at the polls, Farrar-Myers said, her work supporting small businesses, families and neighborhoods spoke to voters, despite partisan politics playing a larger role in otherwise nonpartisan City Council races.
“When it comes to the issues I’ve worked on, I think that resonated with both sides because they knew where my heart was,” she said.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 5:33 PM.
