Price has big lead over Lane in Fort Worth; Hightower ahead by just 31 votes in Arlington

With early votes counted in Tarrant County, former Tax Assessor/Collector Betsy Price has a commanding lead over former Councilman Jim Lane in the Fort Worth mayoral runoff, while the margin in the contest for the District 5 Council seat in Arlington is razor thin, with gay candidate Chris Hightower leading incumbent Lana Wolff by two points.

Early voting turnout in both the Fort Worth mayoral runoff and the Arlington Council runoff exceeded early voting turnout in those races in the May 14 election.

Hightower, who if elected will be Arlington’s first openly gay council member, received 615 of the 1,199 early votes in the Arlington Council runoff. Wolff got 584.

Earlier this week, Hight0wer said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the election, despite anti-gay campaigning by Wolff supporters.

A total of 19,402 early votes were cast in the Fort Worth mayor’s race, and 11,433 went to Price, giving her 59 percent. Jim Lane trails with 7,969 votes, or 41 percent.