Local News‘It’s a Hard Decision,’ Five-Term Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price Announces She Will Not Run for Reelection

“It’s a hard decision, but it’s the right thing at this time,” Price said.

Price, the 44th mayor of Fort Worth, did not immediately endorse any potential candidates for the office but did express hope that the voters of Fort Worth will do their due diligence in choosing her successor.

“Together, we’ve made great progress in the City of Fort Worth,” Price said. “Today, Fort Worth is a thriving, diverse, and fiscally responsible, strong community.”

Price thanked the citizens of the city for her time in office.

“Being mayor has been more fun, more exciting, more challenging, more time consuming, and definitely more rewarding than anything I could have imagined,” she said. “I want to thank all the people of Fort Worth for giving me your trust and confidence.”

The mayor declined to say whether she might run for office again in the future, indicating it was a possibility but that she had not made any decision.

Though Texas municipal offices are non-partisan, Price has long been hailed one of the last remaining Republican mayors of a major city as she served Tarrant County as a GOP tax assessor-collector prior to her mayoral tenure. She has been involved in advancing many high-profile issues that are not traditionally Republican priorities, including refugee resettlement in Texas and “diversity and inclusion” reforms in Fort Worth.

Price was first elected in 2011 and most recently won a fifth term in 2019.

Update: The Texan can confirm that District 3 Councilman Brian Byrd will run for mayor to succeed Price. Therefore, Byrd will not run for reelection for city council. Michael Crain, who has been Byrd’s district director for the duration of Byrd’s time in office, will run to fill Byrd’s seat.