Editor’s note: This story will be updated with final voting results.
With 91 out of 106 precincts reporting, Roderick Miles has defeated Kathleen Hicks with 62% of votes in the Tarrant County Commissioner Precinct 1 runoff race. Hicks earned 38% of votes.
Miles, 52, and Hicks, 51, were vying for the position left open by current Commissioner Roy Brooks, who announced last year this would be his final term. Four candidates presented their case in the March primaries, but no one was able to secure the majority of the votes.
Miles will face Republican nominee Michael Barber during the Nov. 5 general election.
Miles and Hicks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sylvia Allen, 62, headed to the polls at the Como Community Center to encourage voters to support Roderick Miles for Tarrant County Commissioner Precinct 1 and Carlos Walker for House District 97. Allen voted for Miles during early voting.
She said Miles has a proven track record as the current precinct Commissioner Roy Brooks’ executive administrator. She also pointed to Miles’ faith as another reason he earned her support.
“And not only is he the administrator; I have ministries, I’m a community activist, and we give back. And when I spoke to Roderick about giving back to children for Christmas, he did not hesitate,” she said. “He gets out in the community and works, he knows the community. And we’re just so grateful.”
Allen said ultimately, what’s most important isn’t who you voted for, but that you voted at all.
“Our vote is our voice,” she said. “And if you don’t vote, well, I’m not saying you don’t have a voice, but there is no need to talk about what didn’t happen because you could have been here making a difference.”
In the primary March elections, Hicks earned 36% of the votes, with Miles not far behind at 31%. The precinct stretches from southwest Fort Worth and north Arlington toward the southern Tarrant County cities of Everman, Forest Hill, Crowley, Burleson and Edgecliff Village.
Hicks previously served on the Fort Worth City Council between 2005 and 2012 before leaving during her last term to run for a congressional seat. She now serves as executive director of the Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice, which is overseeing the construction of a memorial for Fred Rouse, a Black man who was lynched by a white mob in 1921.
“If I’m elected your county commissioner, I will engage you. I will work with everyone whether you support me or not because everyone should have a voice. I always say that I don’t know all the answers. You do, and so I will be coming to you,” Hicks said at a candidate forum in April.
Miles has worked as Brooks’ executive administrator over programs and outreach for the last decade. He has also received an endorsement from Brooks in the race.
“My goal and my desire as your next county commissioner is to give this seat back to you, the residents, the people. It belongs to you. It doesn’t belong to an elected official. It always belongs to the people,” Miles said at the forum.
County jail deaths and other divisions among the Tarrant County Commissioners Court are key issues for both candidates in this race. Miles and Hicks have also named economic development opportunities in the predominantly Democratic area as priorities.
Emily Wolf contributed to this report.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
