Are Fort Worth voters happy with city’s direction? What Saturday night’s results mean
Fort Worth voters appear satisfied with the trajectory Mayor Betsy Price established over the past decade as they selected her former chief of staff, Mattie Parker, to lead the city.
Parker fought her way out of a crowded 10 candidate field to become the city’s next mayor and the youngest of any major American city at 37. In Saturday’s runoff election she beat Deborah Peoples, 68, by roughly 7 points. After Price announced she would not seek a historic sixth term, voters had the best opportunity to significantly change the style of leadership in the mayor’s office, and Peoples hoped to capitalize on a feeling among some voters that City Hall has not been responsive enough to everyday citizens.
Parker’s win indicates that voters are pleased enough with the city’s position not to rock the boat dramatically. The city will remain one of the largest in the country with a Republican mayor, though the City Council shifted marginally to the left after voters ousted two incumbents.
“A vote for Mattie would clearly be a vote for continuity in this election,” said TCU political science professor James Riddlesperger. “One of the elements of that would be happiness with Betsy Price’s tenure as mayor.”
Under Price, Fort Worth has grown by nearly a quarter, shooting up from about 748,419 residents in 2010 to 927,720 residents in 2020. Fort Worth has consistently been one of the fastest growing big cities in the country.
Though Parker, a lawyer and founding CEO of two nonprofits focused on education, did not distinguish herself greatly for Price, both she and the outgoing mayor have said Parker will not be “Betsy Price 2.0.” Parker sees her age as an asset and has said Fort Worth needs more young people to take leadership roles across the city.
“The decisions I make I’ll actually have to live with,” she told Star-Telegram after her victory speech.
While both Parker and Peoples, the former Tarrant County Democratic party chair, said they hoped to achieve nonpartisan support, the race was the most partisan election in the city’s recent history. Neither directly took advantage of state political machines, but they received party-line endorsements for the nonpartisan seat. The state GOP mobilized door knockers for Parker, who Gov. Greg Abbott endorsed late in the race. Peoples secured endorsements from top area Democrats including U.S. Rep Marc Veasey and Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks.
Fort Worth’s political power structure, at least for the next two years, will not shift greatly. Traditionally the candidate with the backing of the the city’s powerful business leaders like the billionaire Bass family, has won the mayor’s seat regardless of party affiliation. Those are the same folks who backed Parker this year, though she also gained support from a large following of friends and neighbors, she said.
“Some have been liberals, some have been conservative, but what they’ve all had in common is that they had broad support of the business community downtown, and that they have been negotiators rather than bomb throwers,” Riddlesperger said.
Parker has rejected that she’ll be a status quo mayor.
“I think when they get to know me, they realize I’m a small town kid raised in Hico, Texas,” she said. “There’s nothing establishment about me.”
While Parker’s victory in the mayor’s race may mean voters are not ready to shake things up broadly, two incumbent council members, District 6’s Jungus Jordan and District 8’s Kelly Allen Gray, lost runoffs. Jordan, a conservative and longest serving member, lost to Jared Williams, a science educator. Gray lost to Chris Nettles, a small business owner.
Both Williams and Nettles are political newcomers who will bring more progressive voices to the council. In the recent past, council member Ann Zadeh has been the most outspoken and most likely to vote apart from her conservative colleagues. Zadeh lost her bid for mayor. Democrat lawyer Elizabeth Beck will take her seat.
Growing voter turnout — more than 88,000 people voted — and the ouster of two incumbents shows attitudes are shifting, said Emily Farris, a TCU associate professor.
“Both of those signals to me a change in voters,” she said. “They are more and more interested and looking for alternatives to how the city is run.”
A Tarrant County election map shows Peoples carried precincts in the central, south and east Fort Worth, areas with traditional more Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Parker led in the north and western suburbs.
Parker will have to work aggressively to gain the trust of Fort Worth’s minority communities, said Bob Ray Sanders, a former Star-Telegram editor who served as a co-chair of the Race and Culture Task Force. Despite changes to the city meant to improve equity, which include the hiring of a diversity director and a police monitor, Sanders said many Black residents are wary of whether leaders truly intend to build an inclusive environment.
“There has been a breakdown, to a degree, in the relationship between the Black and Anglo community, between the minority and Anglo community, in the city of Fort Worth — I mean the number of people who show up almost every Tuesday night for City Council complaining about such things shows there is a lot of discontent,” he said. “The minority community is looking for steady progress, not putting anything on hold.”
With the backing of major Fort Worth business leaders like the Bass family, Ross Perot Jr. and others, Parker has the advantage of being able to bring the private sector on board with city equity efforts. That will be critical to advancing and real reform, Sanders said.
Price told the Star-Telegram shortly after her announcement that she would not seek reelection that the next major needed to aggressively continue improving equity. She doubled down on that Saturday night at Parker’s watch party, saying in an interview that she hoped Parker would go beyond the progress already made.
“She’s got to stay engaged and listen to the citizens,” Price said. “That’s going to be so critical.”
Parker said she intends to meet with Peoples and possibly other former mayoral candidates to find out what drove them and their supporters. If Peoples wants to serve in some capacity, Parker said she would be open.
“It’s not just Deborah. She had some wonderful people supporting her,” Parker said. “It’s important to understand why they felt so strongly about her and whittle that down into a coalition of very diverse viewpoints. And I want to make sure they feel respected and heard at City Hall.”
This story was originally published June 6, 2021 at 10:04 AM.
