The 2024 spring election filing period opened Wednesday morning at the Denton city secretary’s office with the mayor and two at-large City Council seats on the ballot.
Similar to the mayor, the at-large seats — Place 5 and Place 6 — require a citywide vote.
The filing period for local seats ends Feb. 16.
Out of the three incumbents, only the mayor, Gerard Hudspeth, has made it clear he’s seeking reelection. On Thursday, Chris Watts, the current Place 6 representative and a former mayor, confirmed to the Denton Record-Chronicle that he would not be seeking reelection.
As of Thursday afternoon, Hudspeth was the only candidate to formally submit an application since the filing period opened Wednesday morning, according to the city secretary’s office.
Hudspeth, Denton’s first Black mayor, announced his reelection bid for his third and final term at the end of November on social media.
“I’m excited to announce my campaign for re-election and continue our work to keep Denton the best place to live and work in North Texas … and fix these streets!” Hudspeth wrote in a Nov. 28 post to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Hudspeth is a longtime civil servant in Denton, having served as a District 1 council member, mayor pro tem, chair of the community development block grant committee and a court-appointed special advocate for children in foster care, according to his campaign website.
So far the mayor isn’t showing any political contributions on his Jan. 16 campaign finance report, but does show $645.80 in total political expenditures and $22.15 total political contributions maintained as of the last reporting day.
The other two seats up for grabs are Watts’ at-large Place 6 seat and Brandon Chase McGee’s at-large Place 5 seat.
Reached Thursday afternoon, Watts said he would not be seeking reelection due to health issues. He told the Denton Record-Chronicle he would not be able to give constituents the passion and dedication he said they’ve come to know from him since he first took office as a council member in 2007.
Watts served as mayor from 2014 to 2020 and again as a council member starting in 2022.
“I’m putting my energy toward my health,” Watts said.
In his Jan. 16 campaign finance report, McGee shows $18,930.24 in total political contributions, $959.99 in total political expenditures and $17,970.25 in total political contributions maintained as of the last day of the reporting period.
Asked Thursday morning if he had made a decision yet on running, McGee said, “I have not. I will let everybody know.”