Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker easily won re-election Saturday, capturing 69.4% of the 42,245 votes cast in a race in which none of the four other candidates was able to mount a serious challenge. The second-place finisher, Jennifer Castillo, garnered just over 12% of the vote.
Three incumbent city council members who faced challengers also won re-election: Gyna Bivens captured 65.66% of the vote in District 5; Jared Williams received 57.49% in District 6; and Elizabeth Beck prevailed with 53.65% in District 9.
Incumbents Carlos Flores (District 2), Michael D. Crain (District 3) and Chris Nettles (District 8) were re-elected without opposition.
With the District 7 council seat up for grabs after incumbent Leonard Firestone decided not to seek a second term, political newcomer Macy Hill won more than 61 percent of the vote to easily defeat two other candidates, Caleb Backholm and Jason Ellis. Hill, who heads a philanthropic advisory group, is married to James Hill, a member of the Tarrant Regional Water District board of directors.
In District 4, where incumbent Alan Blaylock was ineligible to seek re-election because of redistricting, Charles Lauersdorf defeated Teresa Ramirez with nearly 60% percent of the vote.
Blaylock, meanwhile, was elected in District 10, one of two new council districts created by a city charter amendment approved by voters in 2016 with the goal of better representing the diversity of communities across the city. Blaylock captured 69.47% of the vote in defeating his lone opponent, Brandon Robert Jones.
In District 11, the other new district, none of the four candidates was able to able to muster 50% of the vote so the top two vote-getters, Jeanette Martinez (36.30%) and Rick Herring (34.08%) will contest the seat in a June 10 runoff.
Besides the Fort Worth mayoral and council races Saturday’s election featured a contest for two seats on the Tarrant Regional Water District board, which oversees the controversial Panther Island flood control and economic development project. The winners in that race were incumbent Charles “C.B.” Team, a commercial real estate broker who was appointed to the board following the death last November of longtime member Jim Lane; and Paxton Motheral, a vice president of Cassco Development. Motheral will assume the water board seat vacated by longtime member Marty Leonard, who did not seek re-election. Motheral captured 32.22% of the vote in the four-candidate race and Team won 29.81%. The other candidates were River Oaks Mayor Joe Ashton (19.79%) and locomotive engineer Chad Moore (18.18%).
In contests for seats on the Fort Worth Independent School District board, District 2 incumbent Tobi Jackson defeated challenger Patricia “Pat” Carlson, 68%-32%; District 3 incumbent Quinton “Q” Phillips defeated two challengers with nearly 55% of the vote; and District 5 incumbent Carin “CJ” Evans will face challenger Kevin Lynch in a June 10 runoff. Lynch had 45.5% of the vote and Evans received 31.61%. A third candidate, John Yoder, captured 22.9%.
Also on the ballot Saturday were contests for mayor and city council in a number of other cities as well as school board seats and bond proposals across Tarrant County. Complete results can be found on the Tarrant County election website.