Proctor, Bruton capture seats
By Cheryl Smith
Publisher
Economic accountability, a transparent government, the COVID-19 pandemic and unemployment were issues that DeSoto’s new mayor talked about on the campaign trail and some say the message resonated with voters as former Mayor Pro-Tem Rachel Proctor handily defeated Mayor Kenzie Moore with 60.67 percent of the vote to fill the unexpired term of DeSoto Mayor Curtistene Smith McCowan, who died in late 2020.
Throughout the campaign, she stressed taking the city back to the basics, focusing on the ABCs of her vision: “A for accountability; B for bringing us back together; and C for communication.”
“We have to get on the same page with the school district to serve the students, communicate, connect and build that bridge with the school district,” she explained, adding that the Council needed to “restablish regular meetings with our school board, looking at a joint strategic plan.”
In a candidate’s forum sponsored by the Southwest Dallas County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the 2015 DeSoto High School Alumni Hall of Fame inductee from the Class of 1999 said it was important also, to look at DeSoto’s response to the pandemic and what that response needed to be in the future.
“Stricter accountability measures are needed,” she said. “It was made more difficult than it should have been. We have to put things in place that make it easy and gives our residents the most help in the shortest amount of time.”
An author and entrepreneur, Proctor was first elected to the DeSoto City Council in March 2013. In May 2014, she was re-elected and went on to serve as Mayor Pro Tem from May 2016 through May 2019. She then ran for mayor but was defeated by McCowan, who garnered 60 percent of the vote, in a three-person race.
No stranger to politics, she held several positions, including Student Council and Sophomore Class President. A graduate of UTA with a Bachelors degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, she is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (yes, she is sorority sister to current Vice President Kamala D. Harris), and a licensed minister.
With an 8.55 percent voter turnout, the seat vacated by Moore, who was Mayor Pro Tem, representing Place 7, at the time of Mayor McCowan’s death, was won by Letitia Hughes. She defeated John W. McCalib and Calvin Graham, garnering 57.47 percent of the vote, according to unofficial Dallas County Elections results.
Both victors will be back on the campaign trail in a year as the unexpired terms end with a May election in 2022.
With 171 votes cast in the Glenn Heights Special Election to fill the City Council Place 3 seat, which became vacant after the resignation of Jeremy Woods, Sr., Travis Bruton was victorious over Austin T. Kelley with 54.39 percent of the vote.
