Heads wins coin toss for Texas City Council seat

Heads wins coin toss for Texas City Council seat

WOLFFORTH, Texas (AP) — City Council candidate Bruce MacNair watched the coin rise into the air Friday. His opponent, Bryan Studer, kept his gaze on the carpeted floor to see how it landed.

Within seconds, the silver dollar settled heads up, giving the City Council seat to MacNair, a 56-year-old church administrator. He had hoped to win his first election, but he said, “It never struck me that it would happen like this.”

The two men agreed to settle the race for Wolfforth’s City Council with a coin toss after each received 118 votes in last weekend’s election. A run-off election would have cost the tiny town $10,000, a sum the men were eager to save.

Wolfforth city manager Darrell Newsom said the candidates’ decision reflected their characters.

“The term gentlemen comes to mind,” Newsom said. “It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, and they’re acting in a gentlemanly fashion.”

Texas election law provides three options in the event of a tie: a runoff election, one candidate conceding or some form of casting lots.