Candidates for two of seven Mesquite City Council seats headed to December runoff

Candidates for two Mesquite City Council seats are headed to a December runoff after failing to win a majority of votes in Tuesday’s citywide elections.

Jeff Casper and David Burris will face off for the District 1 seat, and Jennifer Vidler and Elizabeth Rodriguez-Ross will vie for District 3.

Casper and Burris both won 42% of 1,156 votes; Vidler claimed 47% and Rodriguez-Ross secured 36% of 1,008 votes.

Both open council seats drew three candidates, a move that often results in runoffs, Burris said Wednesday morning.

“It’s usually just enough votes that the third person just kind of messes up the process,” Burris said. “That’s pretty much what happened.”

Casper says that despite the results, he is excited to spend another month knocking on doors and talking with neighbors in the community.

“It’s a tough pill,” he said Wednesday morning. “But you just have to move forward and realize we did have the most voters, and we’re going to do it again.”

Voters elected current council member Daniel Aleman as mayor Tuesday, making him the first Latino to hold the city’s highest office. Aleman claimed 58% of the votes to defeat Ron Ward, who would have been the city’s first Black mayor.

In District 2, incumbent Kenny Green defeated Dorothy Patterson with 73% of the votes. District 4 incumbent Tandy Boroughs won against challenger Andrew Hubacek by a slim majority.

District 5 incumbent B.W. Smith defeated challenger Tom Palmer with 62% of the votes. Debbie Anderson won the open District 6 seat against Brandon Murden by 24 votes, in a 50.79% to 49.21% split.

Voters overwhelmingly supported a tax proposition Tuesday that will help fund increased cybersecurity measures, road repair efforts, five more police officers and 10 more firefighters.

Runoff elections for the two council seats will be Dec. 7.