In a packed race of six candidates, Deborah Peoples emerged victorious as the voters’ choice for Fort Worth City Council’s open District 5 seat.
The Tarrant County Elections Office reports that Peoples has secured 2,524 votes in the May 3 election, or 54.27% of the vote total with all 160 vote centers reporting. Peoples, a retired AT&T executive and former chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, will succeed longtime council member Gyna Bivens, who has led the district since 2013.
“I am so grateful to the residents of District 5 for having faith in me and for trusting me to do the right thing for our district,” Peoples said in a phone interview with the Fort Worth Report at 10:30 p.m. May 3. “This has been a labor of love for me because I love Fort Worth (and) I love District 5, and I want to make sure that we take care of the residents.”
She said she was still braced for final results, but if her lead held true through the night, she was ready to get to work. Her campaign focused on attracting economic development, lowering property taxes and strengthening public safety.
Peoples has avoided the runoff election voters widely expected because of the quantity of candidates. She was followed by Mary Kelleher, an outgoing Tarrant Regional Water District board member, who secured 1,110 votes, or 23.87% of the vote.
Peoples attributed her win to years of work within the Fort Worth community and her many friends throughout diverse communities.
“I have tried to build up a body of work that people know that I care and I’m willing to work, and I will work hard,” Peoples said. “I’m just so grateful to those friendships and those collaborations we’ve been able to put together.”
Bivens announced after winning the 2023 election that she would not seek another term. Last month, she endorsed Michael Moore, a pastor at New Bethel Complete in Christ Church in south Fort Worth and member of the city’s Park and Recreation Advisory Board, as her choice for successor. Moore won 814 votes, or 17.50% of the total.
The other three candidates — small business owner Kenneth Bowens Jr., retiree Bob Willoughby and consultant Marvin Jose Diaz — secured a cumulative 203 votes, accounting for 4.37% of the total.
All Fort Worth City Council seats were up for grabs, and the District 5 seat was the second most hotly contested after the mayor’s race, which saw seven candidates challenge incumbent Mayor Mattie Parker, who easily secured a third term. The nine incumbent council members seeking reelection won their bids. The District 6 seat was also open, as incumbent Jared Williams stepped down after two terms. Mia Hall and Daryl Davis are headed to a June 7 runoff election for that seat.
As of 10:30 p.m., Peoples said she had not heard from any of her competitors to concede the race, but she had heard from several incumbent council members, who reached out to welcome her to the council.
District 5 includes a sprawling strip of east Fort Worth, including the historic Stop Six neighborhood, that stretches from the intersection of Loop 820 and Interstate 20 at its southernmost point to past the intersection of State Highways 360 and 183 at its northeastern tip. Residents may see what council district they live in here.
Fort Worth City Council is the third political office Peoples has sought in recent years, after seeking the position of Fort Worth mayor in 2019 and 2021 and Tarrant County judge in 2022. Peoples has acknowledged the past losses throughout her campaign trail and again the night of the election.
“Even though I ran those other times, I never felt defeated,” Peoples said. “I felt like we focused on issues and raised issues and tried to bring more people into the tent. And so today really felt like kind of a culmination of all the work that I’ve been doing.”
As Peoples prepares to assume the District 5 seat, the district faces many of the challenges east Fort Worth residents have long lamented. Those include concerns about public safety, a desire for improved infrastructure, continued neighborhood revitalization, and a need for smart and responsible economic development.
During her six-term tenure, Bivens advocated for economic development, championed city investment in struggling neighborhoods and sought to connect senior citizens with resources.
Peoples’ victory comes after she raised more in campaign donations than the other five candidates combined, securing more than $101,000 in cash donations from the beginning of the year to April 25, according to a Fort Worth Report review of campaign finance reports. Candidates were required to disclose their campaign donors in reports filed with the city secretary’s office April 3 and 25. The six candidates raised a cumulative $188,000 in cash.
Moore raised the second-most funds, reporting a total of about $47,000. Despite raising less than half of Peoples’ total, Moore has spent a similar amount on his campaign, reporting about $46,000 in expenditures from cash contributions while Peoples spent about $51,000.
Moore also received more than $62,000 in non-monetary contributions, almost entirely from Coalition for the Fort, a political action committee funded primarily by oil and gas company leaders. The PAC is also funded by several notable Fort Worth names, including former Mayor Mike Moncrief, Republican State Rep. Charlie Geren, developer Mike Berry and Skylar O’Neal, a real estate investor running for the Tarrant Regional Water District board. Peoples reported receiving $5,000 in in-kind contributions.
This story was updated with unofficial voting results at 11:38 p.m. May 3.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
