Tammy Waters elected mayor of Texarkana, Arkansas
TEXARKANA, Ark. — Tammy Waters, a longtime Domtar public affairs executive, was elected mayor of Texarkana, Arkansas, on Tuesday, defeating Ward 2 Director Laney Harris.
Waters received 4,571 votes, or 69.3%, to Harris’s 2,022, or 30.7%, according to the unofficial final count from the Miller County Clerk’s office. The results are unofficial until the county certifies them.
She will succeed Mayor Allen Brown, who was first elected in 2018, won a second term in 2022 and did not file for a third. Waters becomes the city’s first new mayor since Brown took office in 2019. Waters will be sworn in and take office in January for a four-year term.
“I am incredibly grateful for the trust the people of Texarkana have placed in me,” Waters said in a statement Tuesday night. “Throughout this campaign, I’ve had the opportunity to listen to so many people who care deeply about our community and its future. I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve them.”
Waters said her priorities as mayor will be rooted in listening, collaboration and bringing people together. “This campaign has reinforced what I’ve believed all along: Texarkana is filled with people who want to see our community succeed,” she said. “Now it’s time to get to work together. I’m excited about what’s ahead and honored to serve as your mayor.”
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She also thanked the family, friends and volunteers who worked on her campaign, including supporters who spent nearly every day of early voting at polling places holding signs and greeting voters. “I will never forget the people who showed up for me throughout this campaign,” Waters said.
Waters is senior public affairs manager at Domtar, where she has worked for 24 years in a role that covers communications, government relations, community development and public service, according to her campaign. She has chaired the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce and the Southwest Workforce Development Board, served as president of the Arkansas Forestry Association and sat on the board of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.
When she announced her campaign in July, Waters said she would focus on “collaboration, strengthening partnerships, supporting public safety, encouraging economic growth, and improving quality of life, all while being responsive to the people of our community.”
“I’m not running because I think Texarkana is broken,” Waters said in an October campaign release. “I’m running because I believe Texarkana has tremendous potential. We have incredible people, hardworking families, businesses that want to grow and organizations doing great work.”
How the job works
Texarkana, Arkansas, has a city manager form of government. The mayor is elected citywide, presides over meetings of the seven-member Board of Directors and votes as a member of the board. The board sets policy, passes the budget and hires the city manager, who runs the city day to day. City Manager Tyler Richards holds that job now.
The new board will take up a decision the current board started last month. On Oct. 13, directors voted 6-0 to let the Southwest Arkansas Water District ask the state for permission to send up to 110 million gallons a day of the city’s Millwood Lake water to Texas and to negotiate only with Heartland Water Partners LLC while that application is pending. Richards told the board any final sale agreement would come back for a vote.
Harris, who has represented Ward 2 since 2009, keeps his board seat. Ward 2 was not on this year’s ballot.
The rest of the board
In Ward 3, Jennifer Harland defeated Otha Williams Jr., 564 votes (58.3%) to 404 (41.7%). In Ward 5, Laura Nix unseated Director Danny Jewell, 679 (59.7%) to 458 (40.3%). In the three-way Ward 4 race, Natasha Crabbe won with 378 votes (44.8%), followed by T.J. Wall with 239 (28.3%) and Clinton T. Brewster with 227 (26.9%).
Waters and her husband, Russell, have lived in Texarkana for 24 years and raised two children there. She is a longtime Rotarian.