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The June 10 runoff between Rick Herring and Jeanette Martinez, who are vying for District 11’s place on the rostrum of the Fort Worth City Council, is in many ways an examination of Hispanic bona fides.
To many, it seems, if you aren’t Hispanic, you need not apply.
That might on the surface appear an indelicate historical reference of another time, but District 11, ultimately, is the so-called Hispanic opportunity district, carved out by the council during last year’s redistricting process with the declared hope of electing a second Hispanic to the council.
Rick Herring
There certainly is a compelling argument to be made that Hispanics lack adequate political representation and a stronger voice in civic processes with just one member on the council in a city in which Hispanics make up 35% of the more than 935,000 citizens. With a Hispanic opportunity district, as the theory goes, there is an increased likelihood of electing representatives who are familiar with and responsive to the needs and concerns of the Hispanic community.
According to data from the last census, Hispanics make up 63% of the roughly 97,000 residents in District 11.
District 11 covers much of east Fort Worth between Loop 820 and Interstate 35. Its map is the horseshoe shape, so crafted to connect neighborhoods like Polytechnic and Riverside with a high Hispanic population in the east to the Hispanic South Side, including Worth Heights and the Hemphill area.
“The Hispanic opportunity district is a very worthy objective and I agree with the sentiment behind it and the philosophy,” said Herring, 58. “But I'm also a citizen and a homeowner and I want to have the best representative that I can have for my own neighborhood. And I feel like in this field of candidates, I was the person that could do that best. I think my background and experience in civic engagement in the city and with City Hall gives me an advantage to representing the district as a whole.”
Jeanette Martinez
Both candidates are graduates of Texas Wesleyan. Herring has worked in the retirement plan industry for more than 35 years. He is a fiduciary and regulatory consultant with Principal Financial Group.
Herring brings more than 30 years in working in city and neighborhood matters, including serving currently as president of the Carter Riverside Neighborhood Association. He was also appointed by former District 2 Councilman Jim Lane to serve on three commissions, including the Scenic Preservation Commission, City Plan Commission, and the Zoning Commission.
Martinez, who has a master’s in public administration from UT Arlington, is the executive administrator for Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Charles Brooks, a Democrat first elected in 2004. That’s a job she intends to keep if elected, which has raised issues regarding conflicts of time and interests between the city and county.
In addition to serving various nonprofit organizations, Martinez has served as treasurer of the Las Familias de Rosemont Neighborhood Association.
Fort Worth’s reconfigured City Council is only waiting for the winner in District 11 to be filled out. The winner here will be the third new member.
Macy Hill took her oath to replace outgoing District 7 Councilman Leonard Firestone, who elected not to seek reelection, and Charles Lauersdorf filled an open seat in District 4. The incumbent Alan Blaylock vacated the seat to run in the District 10, where he lives, one of two new civic political entities formed through a redistricting process last year.
The election on May 6 was the first with 11 members on the council. The terms are for two years.
The voters sent Mayor Mattie Parker back for another term.
Other incumbents returning were District 5 Councilwoman Gyna Bivens, District 6 Councilman Jared Williams, and District 9 Councilwoman Elizabeth Beck, all of them fending off challengers.
Councilmen Carlos Flores (District 2), Michael Crain (District 3), and Chris Nettles (District 8) all won reelection unopposed.
Proponents of the Hispanic opportunity district in District 11 argued that an empowerment district would increase Hispanics’ civic engagement. Certainly, by appearances of the May 6 election, it did that. Three candidates vying for the job were Hispanic, including Martinez, a daughter of Mexican immigrants, Tara Maldonado-Wilson, and Ricardo Avitia. Another candidate, Christopher Johnson, was African American.
Martinez received the most votes on May 6, 66 more than Herring.
Fort Worth establishment figures have lined up behind Martinez, including Flores, the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, Fort Worth Professional Fire Fighters Association, former mayors Betsy Price and Mike Moncrief, former state Sen. Beverly Powell, Brooks and Commissioners Court colleague Alisa Simmons, as well as two-time mayoral candidate Deborah Peoples, among others.
Martinez and supporters have said that it’s vital for this council member to speak Spanish so as to better communicate with constituents. Herring, who does not speak Spanish, has promised to hire a district director who does.
“I believe that you should also have an understanding of the culture … there is maybe sometimes a fear of communicating information and being able to get constituents to trust the government is sometimes hard,” Martinez said. “And, so, somebody that they would feel comfortable working with is also critical.”
An interesting case study was that of Houston’s District J by Rice University. District J was created “ostensibly” as a Hispanic opportunity district in 2011.
Voters in the district have never elected a Hispanic, despite Hispanics making up almost two-thirds of the population in the district. However, when District J was created, Hispanics accounted for only 17% of registered voters.
In low-turnout elections, that’s all the difference. There are slightly more than 97,000 people in District 11, but only 2,981 bothered to show up to vote on May 6, the lowest number of any contested City Council race, according to data from the Tarrant County Elections Administration. Districts 7 and 9 each attracted more than 6,000 voters.
That likely means that, for at least 2023, whomever wants to win in District 11 — like District J in Houston — needs to build a multiethnic coalition.
Plus, it’s somewhat reckless to draw generalizations about how an entire demographic group of people will vote.
Martinez’s allies in the lead-up to the May election put Herring on defense, leveling the presumed serious allegation that he’s a Republican, citing his participation in that party’s primaries. Hispanics have historically leaned more toward supporting Democratic candidates. Data suggests that a super majority of District 11's Hispanic population does, too.
City Council elections, of course, are nonpartisan. Candidates wear no labels. In fact, Herring enjoys the support of many Democrats, including Libby Willis, who run unsuccessfully for the Texas Senate as a Democrat.
That did not stop Martinez supporters from increasing the partisan pressure, no doubt in hopes of motivating Hispanic voters for the runoff, suggesting just last week that not only are Republicans at work to sway the election in Herring’s favor, but they are Donald Trump MAGA Republicans.
“Rick Herring has repeatedly stood with hard right MAGA Republicans whose party incites its activists by attacking minority citizens and pitting neighbor against neighbor,” according to Lone Star Project, a group that advocates for Democrats.
The hook on all this stems from the endorsement Herring received from the conservative True Texas Project, which initially was called the NE Tarrant Tea Party before rebranding.
Herring declined the endorsement, but his opponents piled on anyway, of course. That's the way these things work.
“Some are not going to be swayed because we live in such a hyper-political climate and that's all they care about even in a race that is totally nonpartisan,” Herring said. “City council gets into very few — in rare instances — issues that I would consider partisan.
“Quite frankly, I've never been involved in any kind of partisan politics whatsoever. I have voted in the Republican primaries. I've also voted in Democratic primaries, which was, of course, not part of the publicity that I received around that. I've supported lots of local Democratic candidates, including Ann Zadeh and Ashley Paz. I hosted fundraisers for them at my home. And those are two of the most progressive Democrats that have ever been elected to office in Fort Worth. So, I consider myself an independent, but quite frankly, I'm just not interested in partisan politics. I never have been.”
Martinez has said that she had nothing to do with spreading the allegations that Herring is a partisan. State Rep. Ramon Romero (D-Fort Worth) has taken credit for a mailer that went out in the days before the first election.
However, she said the issue could be relevant on the council for issues such as the infamous Senate Bill 4, the “show me your papers” law. The Fort Worth City Council in 2017 voted not to take part in a lawsuit against the state over the immigration law, the only major Texas city not to do so. Also, she noted the issue of police oversight.
More recently, another dynamic has been introduced into the race.
Maldonado-Wilson, an insurgent candidate who openly challenged established political order and power structures during her campaign, finished third in May’s election. She has thrown her support behind Herring. Maldonado-Wilson, a progressive who said she was inspired to run because of the Atatiana Jefferson shooting and aftermath, blasted Martinez in explaining her decision to support Herring.
“I believe that the District 11 City Council representative has to have a passion for and must prioritize our neighborhoods and communities. I also believe that we need a representative that isn’t being influenced by special interests, political PACs or the downtown Fort Worth establishment.
“We were told that’d we’d get a fair shot at electing our future councilperson, but that is not what happened. Instead we got a candidate propped up by special interests who is unable to articulate why they are in the race, had to be convinced to run in the first place, and who now lacks a fundamental understanding of what is necessary to serve on City Council.
“Jeanette Martinez has glaring conflicts of interest when it comes to her paid position at the county, has made clear through her actions her intention to keep things business as usual in line with the ‘Fort Worth Way.’ The police union endorsement rounds out the long list of reasons that make it impossible for me to support her candidacy. I fundamentally have a different value set when it comes of local issues than she does.”
Said Martinez: “I am proud to have strong grassroots support from every neighborhood in District 11. I am confident that we will win this runoff June 10.”