Keller Mayor Armin Mizani said he will join the race for Senate District 9, recently vacated by Kelly Hancock.
KELLER, Texas — Keller Mayor Armin Mizani announced Tuesday he will join the race for Texas Senate District 9, after Gov. Greg Abbott announced he will hold a special election for the seat recently vacated by Kelly Hancock.
Mizani is an attorney who was elected mayor of the Tarrant County city in 2020, WFAA previously reported. He first served as a Keller City Councilman from 2014 to 2018.
The District 9 seat, which includes much of northwest Fort Worth, was left vacant after Kelly Hancock resigned from the legislature and was then almost immediately sworn in as the chief clerk to Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who resigned in June, making Hancock interim Comptroller.
Mizani, who is an outspoken Republican despite the non-partisan nature of his mayoral position, announced his bid for the seat on social media, saying the district requires a “principled and unapologetic conservative fighter.”
“Simply put, this campaign will be motivated by my family and yours, guided by our shared conservative values and focused on offering solutions to the challenges we face as Texans,” Mizani said.
Fellow Republicans Leigh Wambsganss and Democrat Taylor Rehmet have also announced their candidacy for the seat. Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, initially announced his bid for the seat but later withdrew when Wambsganss entered the race.