In 2017, when Jeff Cheney became mayor of Frisco, the city still had its suburban, bedroom community feel.
Yes, it was a place to watch, and it made annual appearances on fastest-growing lists. But its reputation revolved mostly around a small-school model that captured the interest of parents who had doubts about the mega-high schools of the northern suburbs.
Today, Frisco is a mature city. It has long been subject to a design masterplan that caps its total population. But it has become an economic powerhouse in its own right. Dallas remains the region’s center, but Frisco’s success has shifted the balance north more than any other city.
Wherever you live in North Texas, you are dependent on Frisco’s success. We need it to draw jobs, talent and prosperity.
That is why everyone should have been concerned about Frisco’s mayoral election Saturday.
This was not just any mayoral race. Hill was a classic candidate of the sort we need more of. He is a successful attorney who spent years volunteering to support Frisco’s schools and economic development. He ran a campaign focused on the issues and on the idea that everyone in Frisco, regardless of ethnic or religious background, can and should be part of its success.
Vilhauer’s campaign, meanwhile, was rooted in fear of immigrants and the idea that Shariah, the Muslim religious code that terrorists have radicalized, would supplant U.S. law.
His rhetoric arises out of an increasingly common Christian nationalist message popular at some large evangelical churches.
The arrival of that population has driven fear and frustration among many voters about the way Frisco has grown.
But there is no evidence of either visa fraud or Shariah replacing any laws in Frisco. Muslims make up a tiny portion of Frisco’s overall population, and Hinduism is more common. Neighbors have long lived peacefully among one another.
Throughout his campaign, Hill called on Frisco residents to unite as one people, beyond cultural and religious differences. He focused on people’s common humanity as the driver of the city’s success. It’s the sort of message that should resonate in a nation that has long been a melting pot for people from different places with different languages and cultures.
Thousands of Frisco voters saw things Vilhauer’s way. That’s worrisome, but we’ve come to expect it in today’s politics, where social media drives so many false narratives.
What’s important is that thousands more saw through that and cast their ballots for Hill.
He had the right message to lead Frisco, and by extension all of North Texas, forward.