TYLER, Texas — After Smith County Pct. 1 Commissioner Neal Franklin announced he would run for Smith County judge, two republican candidates threw their hats in the ring to serve the remainder of his term.
"I want them to hear 30 years experience in lots of different backgrounds," said candidate Fritz Hager.
"Governmental leadership is more important now than ever." opponent Pam Frederick said.
Frederick currently serves as Bullard's mayor. She was also part of Bullard City Council for 12 years. This election is her second time running for the position since conceding to Neal Franklin before a run-off in 2020.
"When I got out of the race with Commissioner Franklin, COVID was at our door," Frederick said. "I went back to my community and I was able to use my experience and my relationships and my strengths in my community to lead our city through the shutdown."
She say back then, she felt it wasn't her time to be commissioner but rather be there for her city. Her goals, should she win office, are to minimize crime, support mental health and reallocate funds for roads and bridges.
Hager spoke about Tyler growing exponentially.
"In business, I learned it's actually growth that's hardest to manage," he said. "We need to have people who understand how to run large budgets in order to make sure we are good stewards of the opportunities that are coming our way."
Hager serves as the executive pastor of Bethel Bible Church and is the former Tyler ISD board president.
"At Tyler ISD, we were able to improve performance radically, going from 11 schools down to zero in need of improvement, and cut tax rates at the same time," Hager said. "And that's what we need to do at the county level."
Hager and Frederick debated topics such as whose experience would serve the position best and how they would handle the county's challenge to staff its law enforcement agencies.
As of Wednesday, about 1,200 people have voted early in Smith County.