by James Hartley | KERA News and Chris Moss, Arlington Report
January 14, 2026
Seven people have officially filed to run for office in Arlington’s May 2 municipal election.
Voters will pick the city’s mayor and four city council members, with several additional candidates announcing their intention to run on social media ahead of the opening for filings.
Incumbents Mayor Jim Ross, District 3 council member Nikkie Hunter and District 5 Council member Rebecca Boxall filed for reelection Wednesday.
Andrew Piel and Barbara Odom-Wesley, who represent Districts 4 and 8, respectively, will not be able to run for reelection under the city’s term limits.
Hunter is the only candidate for council who is currently unopposed.
Hunter Crow, a Tarrant County Democratic Party precinct chair, will challenge Ross for the mayorship. Crow previously ran for Tarrant County College’s board and a seat on the Arlington school board.
Ross, who was elected in 2021, has been under fire from right-leaning figures and organizations for his LGBTQ+ community advocacy.
His proclamations of Pride Month and an old video of Ross confronting a street preacher at a Pride event in New Orleans in 2018 have been used to criticize him and label the mayor a Democrat.
In the District 5 race, Boxall is expected to face a challenge from Brittney Garcia-Dumas.
Garcia-Dumas, who founded BDG Digital Marketing, has served on Ross’ Latino and Women advisory boards and chaired the Latino Business Group for the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce.
Garcia-Dumas did not file to make her campaign official by the end of the day Wednesday.
Races for Districts 4 and 8 have seen the most interest from council hopefuls, each with three candidates announcing their intention to run ahead of the first day of official candidate filings.
Piel’s seat will be sought by Tom Ware, Lisa Ventura and Rogelio “Rojo” Meixueiro.
Ware is currently vice chair of the city’s planning and zoning commission and has served as leader of the Arlington Rotary Club, Arlington Youth Endowment Fund and Arlington Optimist Club. He filed Wednesday.
Ventura is a precinct chair and member of the community involvement committee for the Tarrant County GOP who works as a firearms instructor.
Meixueiro is a community organizer who regularly shows up the council meetings to speak during public comments. He is the chair of the Texas Democrats’ Indigenous Peoples Caucus.
For Odom-Wesley’s District 8 chair, the only at-large seat up for grabs, Melody Fowler, Corey Harris and Jason Shelton announced they would run before filing opened. Both Harris and Shelton filed their campaign paperwork Wednesday.
Fowler has been a trustee on the Arlington school board for eight years. She’s the director of student support services at Arlington Baptist University and serves on the Arlington Charities board and as vice chair of Ross’ education committee.
Harris is a Realtor who has been president of the Arlington Board of Realtors and presiding officer of the Arlington Masonic Lodge and Great Arlington Lion’s Club.
Shelton, a sociology professor and director of the Center for African American Studies at UT Arlington, currently serves on the boards of the Arlington Museum of Art and Levitt Pavilion.
Arlington school district election
Two school board seats will appear on the ballot — Places 6 and 7.
Ahead of the filing deadline, both incumbents announced they will run for reelection.
Place 6 is currently held by Brooklyn Richardson. Richardson is the director of youth and children ministries at the Westminster Presbyterian Church and previously served in leadership roles with Parent Teacher Associations in the district.
Place 7 is held by Leanne Haynes. Haynes previously served on PTA boards across the district and was president of the districtwide council of PTAs.
Both candidates were elected in 2023.
The candidates who have publicly announced their candidacy will still need to file official paperwork to make their election bids official and more could join the races.
The deadline for candidates to file is Feb. 13. Early voting will run from April 20 to April 28.
James Hartley is the Arlington Government Accountability Reporter for KERA News. Got a tip? Email James Hartley at jhartley@kera.org. You can follow James on X @ByJamesHartley.
Chris Moss is a reporter for the Arlington Report. Contact him at chris.moss@arlingtonreport.org.
At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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