Mattie Parker defeated Deborah Peoples Saturday in the runoff election to become Fort Worth's next mayor.
Parker is the former chief of staff to outgoing Mayor Betsy Price and carried the endorsement of city business leaders.
In the May 1 election, none of the 10 candidates who sought to replace Price as mayor received 50% of the vote.
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Parker and Peoples advanced to the runoff election because they were the top two vote recipients on May 1.
Parker addressed her supporters at a watch party just before 10 p.m. Saturday.
Peoples is the former chairwoman of the Tarrant County Democratic Party and would have become Fort Worth’s first Black mayor. Speaking before her supporters Saturday night, she said she was proud of her campaign and what it accomplished.
Peoples called Parker to congratulate her on the victory around 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
"This is a beautiful day. Of course, I would have liked to have been mayor of the city, but I'm not going to stop fighting. I'm going to get up tomorrow and keep going," she said.
Parker takes office just weeks before the scheduled August trial of a former Fort Worth police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson, a Black woman who was fatally shot through a window in 2019.
The officer resigned after the shooting.
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Price called for a top-to-bottom review of the police department after the shooting and Parker can decide whether Fort Worth moves forward with establishing a civilian review board recommended by a race and culture task force.
Fort Worth, which is approaching 1 million residents, is about 40% white, 35% Hispanic and 19% Black.
Peoples lost her first run for mayor by double digits in 2019 to Price, who took office in 2011 and is the city’s longest-serving mayor but decided not to seek another term.
Click here to view June 5 runoff election results.
