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Posted 9:00 p.m.
New Braunfels might be getting a new mayor.
The results
Michael French is leading the New Braunfels mayoral runoff with 6,135 votes to incumbent Neal Linnartz's 3,696 votes, according to unofficial election results. French received 4,919 votes in Comal County and 1,216 votes in Guadalupe County, while Linnartz received 3,190 votes in Comal County and 506 votes in Guadalupe County.
How we got here
There were three candidates vying for the mayor's seat in the May election after Jonathon Frazier decided to endorse Linnartz, though he still appeared on the ballot.
Following the May 2 election, city officials learned of a conflict between the New Braunfels City Charter and the Texas Constitution. The city’s charter stated that the mayoral election is decided by the candidate who receives the most votes, or a plurality of votes, regardless of whether a candidate receives a majority. However, the Texas Constitution states that when a term of office exceeds two years, members of a municipality’s governing body must be elected by a majority vote, as previously reported by Community Impact. Since the New Braunfels Mayor position is a three-year term, a runoff had to be held between the top two vote-getters, which were French and Linnartz.
