May 24 is the first day of early voting for a runoff election that will decide the next mayor of Fort Worth.

The runoff follows an election that took place on May 1 in which both Arlington and Fort Worth mayoral elections went to runoffs.

The Fort Worth mayoral race is between Mattie Parker and Deborah Peoples, vying for the role after Mayor Betsy Price announced that she would not run for re-election.

• Peoples was previously the chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party; she got the most votes in the May 1 election with 33.6 percent.
• Parker worked for Mayor Price; she received 30.8 percent.

The Arlington mayoral race has two candidates competing to replace Jeff Williams, who reached the end of his term.

• Jim Ross is an attorney who also owns Mercury Chophouse in Arlington; he received 47.9 percent of the vote in the May 1 election. So close to the 50 percent needed.
• Michael Glaspie is a minister and a former council member; he received 21.3 percent.

City Council
Fort Worth city council races include two current council members fighting for their seats:

District 6, covers southwest Fort Worth:

• Jungus Jordan has been on the city council since 2005; he got the most votes with 43.7 percent - not the 50 percent needed to win.
• Jared Williams, a community organizer and biology professor at Tarrant County College, received 34.4 percent.

District 7, a sprawling district on the west side that includes the Cultural District:

• Current council member Zeb Pent earned 32.7 percent of the vote, or 3,504 votes, in the May 1 election.
• Leonard Firestone, co-founder of TX Whiskey, received 27.7 percent of the vote (2,971 votes), but has endorsements from Mayor Price, outgoing Councilman Dennis Shingleton, and former Council candidate Lee Henderson, who came in third place during the May 1 election with 15.7 percent, or 1,677 votes.

District 8, which hugs the east side of I-35 extending from 121 to I-20, was very close:

• Incumbent Kelly Allen Gray earned 46 percent of the vote.
• Community leader Christopher Nettles received 43.5 percent of the vote.

District 9, includes downtown Fort Worth:

• Elizabeth Beck, an attorney and military veteran who previously ran for the Texas House, received 43 percent of the vote.
• Fernando Peralta, a member of the Texas Army National Guard earned 12.5 percent.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram offers its assessment of the candidates, while Spectrum News has a preview.

Early voting extends from May 24-June 1. The date of the runoff election is June 5.