As Jeff Williams prepares to formally take office in a little less than two weeks as the city's 26th mayor, the man he defeated in Saturday's election says he'll find ways to fill the most free time he's had since he became a councilman 16 years ago.
Mayor Robert Cluck probably would never have been mayor if not for the near-fatal motor scooter accident that nearly cost him use of his right arm in 1994. It did cost him his "first love," the ability to practice medicine. After a period of feeling sorry for himself, a man who didn't even vote in municipal elections was asked to consider a run for City Council himself.
"The rest is history," Cluck, 76, who was seeking a seventh two-year term as mayor, said in an interview in his office this week.
"Nobody likes to get beat, but I'm fine," he said. "I have plenty of things to do." Besides his day job as vice president of medical affairs at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, those include spending time with family and traveling with his wife.
In a race that turned out to be far less close than some observers predicted, Williams drew 58.1 percent of the vote to Cluck's 39.2 percent, according to final but unofficial totals. Williams won 23 of 28 precincts, trailing Cluck only in the city's five southern- and southeastern-most voting sites.
The City Council is scheduled to canvass the votes Tuesday, and Williams will formally take office May 26.
Four council members — Robert Rivera, Kathryn Wilemon, Lana Wolff and Michael Glaspie Sr. — won re-election Saturday night in a city where turnout was boosted by an overwhelming vote in favor of banning red-light cameras.
Cluck said he saw the loss coming more than a month before the election but didn't give up. "I kept working at it. I guess it was just time."
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