Not all Fort Worth City Council elections are seen as competitive. Here’s why

With campaign signs, candidate forums and constituent engagement sessions springing up across the city, voters are getting familiar with the 35 people vying to fill the 11 Fort Worth City Council seats up for grabs in the May 3 election.

But not all elections are equally competitive, and political experts expect most incumbents to easily beat their challengers and secure new terms, thanks to advantages like large campaign coffers and name recognition.

“Elections with incumbents, all else equal, are usually less competitive than elections for open seats without them,” said Grant Ferguson, a political science professor and director of public outreach at Texas Christian University. “Incumbents who people perceive to be popular with their constituents are less likely to receive a challenge than those that are viewed as vulnerable to losing reelection.”

Districts 5 and 6 have no incumbent running — and in turn have attracted the most candidate filings, with the exception of the mayoral race. Six candidates are seeking to replace Gyna Bivens in east Fort Worth’s District 5, while four candidates have filed to fill Jared Williams’ southwest District 6 seat.

A primary advantage incumbents have is the ability to raise significantly more funds thanks to established community ties. With these deep pockets, they can spend more on sweeping campaign efforts and scare off would-be challengers.

This election season, candidates have raised $1.07 million, and $836,768 of that has gone to incumbents.

Incumbents “are viewed as having at least some chance of winning, since they have done so at least once,” Ferguson said. “If you have won prior elective office before, you know how a campaign works, have hired staff like a campaign manager and have previous experience mobilizing voters.”

For instance, incumbent Mayor Mattie Parker, who has held the seat since 2021, secured $301,654 between Jan. 1 and March 24, adding to her war chest of $546,970.

Since Jan. 1, she’s spent $84,417 on her reelection, mostly on campaign signs, consulting, website management and other advertising expenses, according to her April 3 campaign finance report.

In contrast, the next highest-fundraiser, church ministry coordinator Josh Lucas, raised a reported $3,152 since January and has spent $2,418 on campaign events and advertising. Only two of Parker’s seven challengers have filed campaign finance reports, despite the state’s April 3 deadline.

On par with fundraising advantages is incumbents’ name recognition, Ferguson said.

When voters are faced with multiple candidates on the ballot, they will often vote for the person they know, he said. This is especially true for races that technically aren’t tied to party affiliation as in City Council elections.

“Incumbents also usually have endorsements from other known political figures or groups, which can help signal to voters that the candidate aligns with what they want,” Ferguson said.

Incumbents’ advantages lead to voters viewing them as more serious than their challengers. Still, occasionally, high-profile challengers can wrack up enough support to be seen as more serious contenders for the seat, Ferguson said.

District 9 incumbent Elizabeth Beck’s challenger, insurance agent Jenny Stewart, has raised a reported $17,125 since January to Beck’s $96,095, and won the support of notable names, including former Mayor Betsy Price, Hillwood Vice President Tom Harris and the developer-backed Hammer & Nails political action committee.

Stewart also loaned herself $56,000, bringing her war chest to about $73,125. In turn, her campaign spending between January and late March was $19,756 in comparison to Beck’s $25,250.

“A serious challenger could be someone who has raised a lot of money, who has a talented campaign team, who has high name recognition, who has endorsements from well-known, popular political figures, who is well-liked in the district, or who has held prior elective office,” Ferguson said.

Stewart still has an uphill climb in the central Fort Worth district. Beck, who has held the seat since 2021, reported financial support from a PAC backed by the Bass family, Fort Worth Chamber President Steve Montgomery, the Fort Worth Firefighters Committee For Responsible Government PAC and several prominent Tarrant County Realtors.

Fort Worth City Council elections always fall between presidential and midterm elections, which both garner higher attention and voter turnout.

Voters in City Council elections tend to be more civically engaged, educated about the city and warm toward familiar faces.

Council candidates don’t need to compete for large swaths of voters like federal and state politicians do — they only need to win over the small groups of voters who tend to support incumbents, Mark Hand, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, told the Report.

In the 2023 local elections, 107,094 people voted in local elections across Tarrant County. A year later, in the November presidential election, 828,544 Tarrant County residents showed up to the polls.

“These people voted for (incumbents) once, and they will often vote for them again,” Ferguson said. “In low-turnout local elections, that gives the incumbent win probability a big boost. Fewer than 50,000 Fort Worthians voted for mayor in 2023.”

Organizations like the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County, which aims to educate communities about local elections, use the low-turnout elections as a call to arms for civic engagement.

League President Janet Mattern said people elected for City Council, school boards and the water district have more direct power to change their cities than state or federal officeholders. Low voter engagement could lead to these officeholders representing the needs of only a few, rather than their broader communities.

“It’s always better for any community, and it shows true democracy when you have more voices coming,” Mattern said. “If only 1 out of 10 people are voting in your City Council, that means that if you go vote, you have far more power than you would have in a regular election.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated April 15, 2025, to specify who has supported District 9 candidate Jenny Stewart and council member Elizabeth Beck.

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

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