Denton voters will have several options for the mayor’s seat now that two more candidates recently announced their intentions to seek the position in next year’s election.
Shannon Childs, a local political newcomer, and Angela Brewer, who has run in several elections as a Democrat over the past five years, both announced their campaigns in Facebook posts.
Their announcements follow on the heels of Brian Beck, the District 2 council member, and former Mayor Chris Watts indicating that they plan to seek the mayor’s seat early next year.
Only one of those candidates — Brewer — has filed for a campaign treasurer, according to the city. The election is May 2, and candidates can file to run between Jan. 14 and Feb. 13.
On Tuesday, Childs told the Denton Record-Chronicle she welcomes the challenge she’ll face in the municipal election.
“People deserve a choice, and that is something I believe in,” Childs said. “People deserve to feel that they can vote for who best represents them.”
Brewer announced her candidacy in a Facebook post Monday.
She recently ran as a Democrat for Texas House District 64 and lost to Republican Andy Hopper in the general election last year. She mounted unsuccessful campaigns for the same seat in 2020 and in the race for Denton County clerk in 2022.
“I am running because championing Denton means building our future with both heart and grit. Denton deserves leadership that protects its soul and believes fiercely in what we can become,” Brewer wrote on Facebook on Monday.
Born in Dallas, Brewer graduated from Denton High School in 1992 and received an undergraduate degree in applied arts and sciences in 1997 and a graduate degree in communication studies in 2007 from the University of North Texas, where she teaches as an adjunct faculty member.
Brewer serves on the Board of Directors for Interfaith Ministries and several committees at First United Methodist Denton.
“I think that we are in a critical moment, where we have to have a leader in our city who preserves what we moved here for,” Brewer told the Record-Chronicle on Tuesday. “I want to be more of a visionary than a manager of the city. … The mayor’s job is about collaboration and bringing everyone to the table and working toward our goals.
“That is why this particular election is so important and that people are given an option to choose that vision in mind.”
A small business owner, Brewer wrote in her Facebook post that she is also an educator and a mom who “knows how to manage complicated logistics, facilitate productive conversations and nurture growth.”
In her post, Brewer pointed out that her optimism for Denton’s future isn’t “naive” but instead is rooted in Denton’s history “and the incredible grit of the women who built this city’s heart.”
Brewer listed the only two women who have served as mayor in Denton: Elinor Hughes, who sought to establish a one-stop human services center that would lead to Serve Denton, and Euline Brock, who spearheaded the idea of connecting Denton and the region via the A-train and the Denton County Transportation Authority.
“Denton is on the rise, and resisting new growth is a losing proposition,” Brewer wrote. “To ensure this change makes us stronger, not just larger, we must lead with strategic intention and a spirit of invitation. We will frame strong expectations for developers to guarantee that new developments add to the diverse character of our community, rather than erasing it.”
Last week, Childs announced her candidacy on Facebook and told the Record-Chronicle she is the youngest candidate in the race — so far — and that her educational and professional experiences allow her to “meet people of Denton where they are.”
A Denton native, Childs was born in 1992 to two women — “not very common in Texas,” she said, but an experience that taught her the importance of political impact and the role that city leaders play in our daily lives and “feelings of acceptance.” She said it’s important to put “someone in charge who wants to see real change.”
Childs attended high school in Pilot Point, received a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and composition and integrative studies from UNT in 2015 and a master’s in English from Texas Woman’s University in 2020. She spent seven years working for North Central Texas College in admissions and academic advising and served on different committees and with the STEM club and the PRIDE Alliance student organization.
“I fundamentally believe people can change people and what I’m hoping to prove with this,” said Childs, who works for a local nonprofit that offers casework services for students in college.
In her Nov. 26 Facebook post, Childs also offered an analogy of how the City Council and the city operate, comparing it to the TV show Survivor. She said this upcoming season comes with about $14 million budget gap, softer revenues and heavier debt and that staff proposed cuts, paused some hiring, trimmed overtime and scaled back programs to address these issues.
“It’s not the most dramatic season ever (well?),” Childs wrote. “It’s just real.”
Childs referred to city staff as the Survivor film crew working behind the scenes to make sure the island (Denton) doesn’t fall apart and to the council as “the ones at Tribal Council using their collective voice to decide what’s best for the whole island. Although on TV, it’s what’s best for themselves.”
“The Mayor’s role in all of this? Not to run the day to day and not to write the budget by herself,” she wrote. “The Mayor is Jeff Probst. The bridge. The tone setter. The person who helps guide the conversation, keeps us focused on priorities and communicates clearly with the whole tribe. The whole city.”
CHRISTIAN McPHATE can be reached at 940-220-4299 and cmcphate@dentonrc.com.
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