Frisco voters began casting their ballots Monday in the runoff election for mayor, a race in which the candidates have very different views on Muslims who live in this Collin County community.
None of the four candidates who ran for mayor last month earned 50% or more of the vote, triggering a runoff election. Rod Vilhauer, a former planning and zoning commissioner, and Mark Hill, a Frisco ISD school board trustee, are on the ballot. Hill received about 35% of the vote in last month’s election, and Vilhauer got about 31%.
Vilhauer has stirred up controversy — and support — over his stance on Frisco’s growing Muslim population. The city council heard hours of public testimony about a Hindu temple, Jain temple and a mosque being built in Frisco at a recent meeting. Several commenters who were against the mosque said they support Vilhauer for mayor.
At a Frisco Chamber of Commerce forum last month, Vilhauer expressed his support the Indian community in Frisco, which has also faced backlash over unfounded claims of H-1B visa fraud. But he said he doesn’t support the Muslim community.
“When it comes to people of Sharia that govern themselves, they are not welcome here,” he said. “I will never welcome them here. We're going to fight that.”
Sharia Law is a religious code in the Islamic faith that isn’t enforceable in the U.S.
Audience members at the candidate forum erupted in applause in response to Vilhauer’s statements. And others applauded when his opponent condemned the discourse about Frisco’s Muslim population.
“If you're a family looking to move from anywhere in the state, Dallas, anywhere in the country, say New Jersey, Boston, San Francisco, or anywhere in the world, and you see some of the rhetoric going on these days, you're not coming to Frisco, Texas,” Hill said.
What’s happening in Frisco can be seen in other parts of the state, including Plano, where a local mosque known as EPIC has faced state and federal scrutiny over a proposed housing development that’s years away from construction. Civil rights groups have condemned the state’s attacks as religious discrimination.
Gov. Greg Abbott declared the Council on American-Islamic Relations a terrorist group last year. The organization’s work mostly focuses on civil rights and anti-defamation.
Vilhauer pointed to Abbott’s declaration at the candidate forum. State and federal officials who use divisive rhetoric opens the door for local officials to do the same, said Jason Blazakis, the director of the Middlebury Institute’s Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism.
“That just raises the temperature in ways that are really unhelpful,” Blazakis said. “And I find that amplification to be particularly problematic. In some ways, I think it then also emboldens those at that local official level too.”
Early voting in Frisco is scheduled to end on June 9. Election day is June 13.
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