Republican Armin Mizani and Democrat Cate Brennan will face off for the Texas House District 98 race in the Nov. 3 election.
The seat became available when Republican Rep. Giovanni Capriglione announced last year he would not seek reelection, ending a 13-year tenure of serving in the Texas House.
Mizani, a former Keller mayor and city council member, won the Republican primary against Fred Tate and Zdenka “Zee” Wilcox in March. He is an attorney and founder of Mizani Law Firm.
Brennan won the Democratic primary against Aaron Hendley. She is a retired CEO of two organizations and was a senior executive of a nonprofit healthcare association for 30 years. She also held office as Tarrant County precinct chair #2704 from 2023 to 2024.
Texas House District 98 represents the northeast corner of Tarrant County, which includes Keller, Grapevine, Euless and Colleyville.
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As Keller’s mayor, Mizani said he helped deliver historic tax relief, adopted and maintained the maximum 20% homestead exemption, oversaw significant investments in roads and infrastructure, strengthened parks and trails, and guided the city through record economic growth.
“That record demonstrates my ability to lower the tax burden, maintain high-quality city services, invest responsibly in our community, support economic growth, and ensure our first responders have the resources they need,” Mizani said in an email to the Fort Worth Report. “Those are the results and proven experience I will bring to the Texas House.”
Brennan said she has professional experience working with leaders to move public policy forward on issues such as health reform, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, modernizing practice acts, balancing multimillion dollar budgets, and managing scarce financial and human resources.
“I decided to run because I couldn’t allow our public schools to be critically undermined by private school vouchers and allow our quality of life and personal freedoms to be eroded by the established ultra-conservative legislature and governor in Austin,” Brennan wrote in an email to the Report. “I don’t believe this establishment represents most people in HD98.”
Mizani listed his three top priorities as securing tax relief for property owners, funding public schools and combating illegal immigration alongside securing the border, adding that the biggest priority for constituents is property taxes.
“I believe we must put ourselves on a serious path over the next five to 10 years to rein in property taxes by controlling government spending, using surplus revenues responsibly, and reforming the school finance system, which I believe to be antiquated,” Mizani wrote in a questionnaire earlier this year.
Brennan’s top three priorities are improving and fully funding public schools, addressing affordability issues, and expanding Medicaid and reining in healthcare costs.
She wrote the biggest issue her constituents face is having quality education for public school students. Brennan wants to repeal the school voucher program; limit public funding of charter schools; return more curriculum control to classroom teachers and local ISDs; and create a separate, segregated fund to see how local property taxes are redistributed under recapture rules.
“Transparency in our budget is a must,” Brennan wrote in the email.
Mizani sees immigration as a “border security issue and a public safety issue” that not only affects the areas along the Rio Grande but communities throughout Texas including HD 98, he said in an email. Last year, Mizani and Keller City Council unanimously voted to take part in ICE’s 287(g) program, which provides new federal immigration enforcement resources to Keller police.
In January, Mizani and Keller City Council voted unanimously for a resolution to outlaw “parallel legal systems,” stating U.S. and Texas constitutions are “the sole sources of legal authority governing municipal affairs, housing, property rights and dispute resolution within the city.” The resolution was originally drafted to reject sharia law, the moral code that guides those who practice Islam.
“As a legislator, I will continue to fight to ensure that Texas statutes and constitutional protections remain supreme and that no governmental entity gives legal authority to a competing system that conflicts with them,” he said in an email.
Brennan wrote she is a supporter of law and order and the deportation of criminals with due process but has been disturbed by ICE’s actions to arrest and deport community members with no convictions of serious crimes. She dismissed the 287(g) program, which she said “instills fear in the community,” and added that the resolution originally aimed to reject sharia law was a “disappointing political stunt.”
“This is a conservative-driven culture war issue designed to create fear and a scary enemy,” Brennan wrote. “The Sharia issue has no merit and is a dangerous threat to our First Amendment and other civil rights.”
Mizani said the recent Senate District 9 race where Democrat Taylor Rehmet defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss has not deterred him from the fundamental tasks of an election campaign: showing up, listening to people and talking about the issues affecting the daily lives of constituents.
“I don’t think either party should assume an outcome based on how a district voted in a prior election,” Mizani wrote in an email. “Special elections and general elections have different electorates and turnout patterns. The SD9 result is a concrete data point showing that turnout and voter engagement matter; the November 2026 midterm results will ultimately be decided by the voters who participate in this process and in our democracy.”
Brennan is confident the regional blue wave that led to the Senate District 9 result will happen in her House district, as constituents are fed up with the ultra-conservative officials, pointing to Keller, Tarrant County Commissioners Court, the Texas Legislature and the governor.
“They tell me enough is enough with officials who do not represent their personal views, economic interests, and family values,” she wrote.
According to the latest campaign finance filings between Feb. 22 and June 30 of this year, Mizani raised $161,080 in political contributions, reported $185,422 of campaign cash on hand, and spent $218,977 in his campaign. During that same period, Brennan reported raising $10,527 in political contributions, had $7,388 on hand and spent $6,960.
Early voting for the Nov. 3 election begins Oct. 19 and runs through Oct. 30. More Nov. 3 elections can be found at the Texas Secretary of State website.
Kamal Morgan is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at kamal@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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