We used to think of school board and city council elections as nonpartisan in North Texas. No more. These days, our local elections have become as polarizing as our national politics.
I know firsthand. I just finished campaigning for Irving City Council and walked right into the headwinds of this new reality. To be fair and honest, I lost my campaign, and what I’m sharing here is not intended to be sour grapes. In America, we trust in democracy and majority rule, and I believe in the will of the voters. But I think voters in Irving and elsewhere deserve to know what’s going on.
I’m not alone in noticing this shift in the local election landscape. After my campaign concluded, a reporter asked me about my experience running against an ideologically motivated opponent who was backed by a right-wing political action committee, the Families for Irving PAC, which had supported my opponent with about $16,000 in spending between May 4 and June 5, 2024. The reporter also asked my thoughts on what it means for Irving to now have a majority of those serving on the council backed by this same PAC. Below are my thoughts on my experience and the broader implications for Irving.
First, very few people voted. Only about 2,500 of the nearly 20,000 voters in Irving’s District 4 voted in my election. This is an important fact, because the small pool of voters makes it quite easy for a candidate to reach out to the obvious targets, the city’s very likely voters, but also to additional, less likely voters who are motivated by partisan issues and who perhaps have have not voted in smaller local elections before.
To get partisan voters to care about a nonpartisan election they might otherwise ignore, what do you do? You follow extreme partisan messages tied to the polarized tone of our national politics. This angers people, regardless of whether or not the message has any real influence on municipal elections.
For example, from the beginning, my opponent’s canvassers wore MAGA hats when they knocked on doors, and the first question voters were asked was whether they supported former President Donald Trump. Furthermore, my opponent and Families for Irving PAC took what could generously be called “creative license” with the facts. Their mailers and flyers made me look like a George Soros-funded bogeyman who wanted to defund the police and release dangerous criminals onto the streets of Irving.
It doesn’t matter that none of the messages about me were true. In fact, I enforce laws for a living, and supporting public safety was my main goal and was present in all of my materials.
I think we all know that politics and truth often don’t go hand in hand these days. Candidates need to have thick skin, and I do. But it was troubling that my election was more about Republican versus Democrat than what South Irving really needs. I wonder if voters were weighing qualifications or experience more if this election could have gone differently. We will never know.
Another thing that bothers me is our local politics becoming more polarized and angered by the injection of partisanship. If we ever want to get to know each other and make good decisions as a group, you would think that could happen best and first at a local level, on a smaller stage. But this Irving election has become an “us versus them” blood sport, with my opponent’s forces seeing me and my supporters as enemies, as the “other” to be feared, suppressed, and perhaps ignored. This does not seem like an ideal recipe for good government. It is as if we have forgotten that our politics is intended to be a debate, a civil means of finding agreement on issues and aiming for the greater good.
I use the word “ignored” above because my opponent did not appear in any of the sponsored debates and forums. He did not go Dallas Morning News screening of recommendations before the first round of voting. He has never had to answer to the civic-minded citizens who attend these events or read our area’s official newspaper. Instead, he campaigned alongside his party allies. A smart campaign strategy perhaps, but will he be a leader for all of Irving’s District 4 or just those who share his party politics? We will see.
I would like to think that Irving voters would not accept this slide into partisan polarization that could make our city’s politics unnecessarily divisive. I wrote a letter to voters asking them if they wanted our local politics to be like Washington politics. Apparently, for now, the 1,500 voters who supported my opponent do so. I’m not sure when that will change. Irving Families PAC has spent tens of thousands of dollars and now has direct ties to five Irving council members. They will exert a lot of influence and control now, and voters will see what their type of leadership brings and will hold them accountable.
Susan Motley is a former candidate for District 4 on the Irving City Council.
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