No Arlington City Council seats are up for grabs this year. Political experts say that’s a good thing

Arlington voters won’t see any City Council seats on the ballot this year — the first time that’s happened in decades.

Political experts say it’s a good thing.

In November 2022, voters approved a City Charter amendment with an 84% majority that extended terms for the eight-member City Council and mayor from two to three years. Voters also added three-term limits to the charter.

Mark Hand, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, said most political experts agree with longer terms in local elections. Three- or four-year term lengths are becoming more common in local government entities across the state, he said.

From his perspective, the benefits outweigh the main downside of longer terms, which is that voters will have to wait longer to vote out any wayward elected officials.

Here’s why political experts generally support three-year terms:

City officials have time to get to know their job, and therefore be more effective public servants, Hand said.

City Council member Long Pham, who represents the entire city, echoed that sentiment. During a two-year term, new members “barely learn anything” before they’re on the ballot again, he said in an interview with the Report.

“It’s difficult for council members, especially new ones, to get up to speed on the job,” Hand said. “It’s a difficult, complicated, unique job, and so it makes sense to me that they would say that they need more time to get to know it.”

Officials also won’t need to spend as much time campaigning, Hand said, which can distract them from their official duties. Less campaigning saves candidates money and lessens their incentives to accept cash from outside parties.

Pham, who supported both the longer term lengths and term limit amendments, reported spending about $37,000 on his at-large reelection campaign in 2024, according to campaign finance reports.

“Candidates might enjoy campaigning, but they’re probably not in the job to campaign,” Hand said. “They’re probably in the job to do policy work.”

Three-year terms serve to consolidate elections, which political experts generally advocate for, Hand said.

Voters can get tired of casting ballots, especially after presidential election years. Local elections like this May’s usually don’t see high voter participation as they aren’t tied to many high-profile state and federal races.

In May 2021 — the first election after the 2020 presidential election — around 31,000 Arlington residents voted in local city elections, compared to over 132,000 in November 2020, according to city election results.

Higher voter participation means candidates must run campaigns appealing to broader spectrums of voters. Candidates who run during “slower” years tend to run smaller, more niche campaigns, knowing only the faithful voters will turn out.

“Having separate, low turnout elections might serve the function of making our politics more extreme,” Hand said.

In the May 3 election, Arlington residents will see a City Charter Special Election asking voters to approve seven amendments. See the city’s breakdown here.

Voters will also decide whether or not to approve a $200.8 million bond proposal put forth by the city that would fund infrastructure improvements in areas across the city.

Two school board incumbents are running for reelection, though only one race is contested.

Drew Shaw is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. 

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

This article first appeared on Arlington Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.