Tammy Waters elected mayor of Texarkana, Arkansas

Update, Thu., Nov. 5: Tammy Waters won the mayor’s race Tuesday with 4,571 votes, or 69.3%, to 2,022 (30.7%) for Ward 2 Director Laney Harris, according to the Miller County Clerk’s unofficial final count, TXK Today reported. KSLA also reported her win. Waters takes office in January for a four-year term. Harris keeps his Ward 2 board seat. On the board, Jennifer Harland won Ward 3 (58.3%), Laura Nix unseated Director Danny Jewell in Ward 5 (59.7%), and Natasha Crabbe led the three-way Ward 4 race with 44.8%, TXK Today reported. That plurality elects her: Arkansas’s majority-runoff statute does not apply to boards of directors in city-manager cities (Ark. Code § 7-5-106), and Texarkana, Arkansas, uses a city manager form of government, TXK Today’s city government guide says. Results are unofficial until the county certifies them. Our preview from before the election follows.

Texarkana, Arkansas, will have a new mayor next year. Mayor Allen Brown is not seeking a third term, KTBS reported, and two candidates are on Tuesday’s ballot.

The mayor’s race

• Laney Harris has served 25 years on the Texarkana City Board of Directors, representing Ward 2, and the last three years as assistant mayor. He told KTBS his connections with local, state and federal officials position him to lead, and said he has knocked on more than 4,000 doors. “The biggest problem is lack of tax-based business on the Arkansas side,” he said, along with neighborhood infrastructure.
• Tammy Waters is making her first run for office. She has worked 24 years as a senior public affairs manager at the Domtar paper mill. She told KTBS that residents keep bringing up infrastructure and economic development, and that she wants to focus on “building those relationships, working together to achieve what’s possible.”

City board races

Three board seats are on the ballot, according to the city’s 2026 candidate list and the AR Votes candidate guide from the League of Women Voters of Arkansas:

• Ward 3: Jennifer Harland, Otha Williams Jr.
• Ward 4: Clinton T. Brewster, Natasha Crabbe, T.J. Wall (Wall’s Ward 4 announcement)
• Ward 5: Danny Jewell (incumbent), Laura Nix

How to vote

On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, Miller County polls are open 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 13 vote centers, and you can vote at any of them, TXK Today reports. Its guide lists every vote center and has an unofficial sample ballot. Early voting in Miller County ended at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2.

Storms are possible Tuesday, so check the National Weather Service forecast before you head out.