Betsy News
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price says she will not run for re-election
After 10 years in office, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price has announced that she will not run for another term.
Price made the announcement on January 5 — one week before January 13, the first day that candidates can begin to file to run for office. The next election is May 1.
She was first elected in 2011 and set a record as the longest-serving mayor in Fort Worth history. She's also the only Republican mayor of a major Texas city.
Both Price and her husband Tom tested positive for COVID-19 in November 2020, but she said that the virus wasn't the reason she was leaving office, stating that she wanted to spend more time with her family and grandchildren, and open the office to a fresh perspective.
"It just hit me one day that I need to share this with other people," she told NBC 5. "There are other leaders in the city, the fresh perspective, a chance to change."
Prior to her mayoral term, Price served as Tarrant County Tax Assessor for 10 years, and was previously owner of a title office.
Among her favorite projects were health-focused initiatives such as bicycling and walking; implementing TEXRail, the commuter rail line between downtown Fort Worth and DFW Airport; improving literacy in grammar schools; neighborhood revitalization programs, and stabilizing the employee pension fund.
Price's closest race was in 2019 when she faced Deborah Peoples, chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party. Peoples has already said she will run again.
District 9 Councilwoman Ann Zadeh also announced she'd be running, saying in a January 5 Facebook post, "I would be honored to serve as our next Mayor and I am prepared to do so."
The job pays a piddly $29,000 a year. The filing period to run for mayor or city council is January 13-February 17.
