The race for Irving City Council District 5 is heating up as early voting begins next week for the open position.

Five candidates have put their names forward to replace incumbent J. Oscar Ward, who was first elected in 2014 and is completing his third term in office. Ward ran unopposed for the position when he was last elected in 2020.

Mark Cronenwett, a business attorney by trade, has previously served on several city boards and commissions. He received a degree from the University of Dallas, and he has lived in District 5 for nearly 14 years.

Cronenwett told The Dallas Express, “The priority of my campaign is to advocate for Irving families – all Irving families. It is the driving force behind my positions and has been my motivation in serving the city of Irving for the last 14 years.”

“I am deeply invested in our City and the potential she has for even greater success,” he said. “I began my service to the community as a YMCA coach and later as a member of the Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau and La Buena Vida Foundation.”

Cronenwett has also served “as Chairman of the Board of the Irving YMCA, Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1, the Municipal Bond Commission and, up until last month, the Planning and Zoning Commission.”

“I love the City of Irving. I love the friends and community it has provided my family,” Cronenwett said. “Serving on boards has been, in many ways, my show of appreciation to this great city. If elected to Council, I will continue to advocate on behalf of our residents to promote their interests and address their concerns.”

His priorities included making Irving safer, increasing police funding, developing family-oriented infrastructure, and attracting high-performing charter schools to provide students with more educational options.

“First and foremost, I am an advocate for Irving families, and I have formed my priorities to best serve them,” Cronenwett said. “My track record shows a leader who listens and discusses issues respectfully. My positions on issues are well-researched and line-up consistently with my established principles.”

Cronenwett has received the endorsement of Families for Irving, a recently founded political action committee that supports business, school choice, first responders, and protecting children from potentially illicit materials in public cultural services. Candidates supported by Families for Irving have had success in the past, with several being elected to the council in 2022.

Another candidate for District 5, Matthew Varble, has denounced Families for Irving, pointing to an ethics complaint filed against the organization that alleged the group failed to meet certain financial filing deadlines.

Varble, the director of labor and employee relations for Aramark, told The Dallas Express, “I’m running because I wanted us to return to the basics.”

Specifically, he is advocating for a return to twice-a-week trash pickup, safer streets secured by increased police pay, and “quicker infrastructure because the condition of our streets is a complete disaster.”

“If you are a skilled or qualified police officer, why are you going to go work for Irving when there’s probably four or five other places you can go and get paid more money right out of the gate?” Varble asked.

Varble received the endorsement of the Irving Police Association.

He also serves as the president of the University Park Estates Homeowners Association, which he says helped inspire him to run for city council.

“It’s kind of like being a city councilman for a much smaller area,” he told The Dallas Express. “So I thought, you know, I need to think bigger. … and because of the accomplishments we’ve had in our association, a lot of people said … you really should think about running for that seat.”

When asked how his positions differ from Cronenwett’s, Varble alleged that “he copied all my issues and recently discovered them when he determined that that was important to the electorate. I’ve been on record for much longer.”

“Anyone paying attention will see that he has adapted his campaign platform to suddenly become a carbon copy of the issues that I’ve represented,” Varble continued. “I think it’s disingenuous. I think it’s insincere. There’s not an evidentiary record to support his sudden newfound interest in these issues. To me, it’s completely contrived.”

While Cronenwett has lived in District 5 for roughly 14 years, Varble has been a resident for around three years, according to his filing documents. Before his time in Texas, he ran for several offices in other states.

In 2005, Varble ran unsuccessfully for city council in Champaign, Illinois, during which he supported the creation of a citizen’s review board to oversee the police department and also opposed giving police tasers. While still living in Illinois, he put his name forward as a Democrat for DeWitt County Board in 2007 but pulled out of the election to take a new job.

“I decided that that would be better for me long term than continuing in the race. It’s like, this is a career-level move to be the labor relations manager for the largest paper mill in the United States, or you can be county commissioner in DeWitt,” Varble told The Dallas Express.

Varble later moved to Florida and in 2018 became a trustee of the Lago Vista Maintenance District after running unopposed. However, he left the state before finishing his term to take a job in Texas.

“I made that decision for my career, an advancement in my career to be at a principal level, which I was kind of at that level already but it was a much higher profile position. … It was offering something much greater,” Varble explained.

Varble also received an appointment to the Florida Board of Auctioneers in 2018, but Governor Ron DeSantis rescinded Varble’s appointment upon taking office in 2019, prior to Varble being confirmed by the Senate.

When asked if he would leave Irving City Council to pursue further career advancement in the event he was elected, Varble said it was “very unlikely at this point because I am pretty much in the pinnacle position for what I do.”

The University Park HOA has seen its share of controversy under Varble’s leadership, with several residents alleging that Varble has routinely engaged in harassment, intimidation, and the suppression of opposing speech in an ongoing lawsuit.

Varble explained to The Dallas Express that he “completely recused [himself] from all decisions pertaining to that litigation.”

He also criticized Cronenwett and Families for Irving for supporting the removal of allegedly inappropriate or obscene books from local libraries.

“They keep talking about inappropriate material in the library, even though we already have professional city librarian staff and state laws of Texas that are being upheld. They want to go even further down this path, which represents potential legal exposure for the City of Irving,” Varble said, pointing to the recent events in Llano County.

“I think there are more important things to be worried about in the City of Irving, like fixing the streets and picking up the garbage twice a week,” he insisted.

“It’s not that I’m not sympathetic to the concerns raised by individuals supporting this political action committee or my opponent,” he added. “I probably would agree with him that some of these books have material that I don’t find personally to be appropriate. But … creating exposure under violating federal law of the 1st and 14th Amendments is not smart.”

Such rhetoric is apparently more moderate than prior statements Varble has made on the issue. He previously sent HOA residents private messages suggesting the removal of potentially pornographic material from libraries would be similar to Nazi book burnings, according to screenshots obtained by The Dallas Express.

In one message to HOA resident Brennan Johnson, Varble shared a link to an article about the Nazis burning books and said, “Mark Cronenwett is worried about books at the library just like they were.”

“My parting message is this, I’m very interested in returning to twice-a-week trash pickup,” Varble concluded in his conversation with The Dallas Express. “I’m interested in properly funding the police. … I’m going to get the streets fixed. I think that’s very much more important than almost any of the other issues people are bringing into this election.”

Cronenwett has denied several of Varble’s claims and denounced several of his actions.

Regarding the comparison to Nazism, he told The Dallas Express, “To DM Irving residents, who speak out in favor of protecting the innocence of children, with images of Nazi book burning and state that this is what ‘Mark Cronenwett is trying to do’ is abhorrent.”

Furthermore, Cronenwett claimed Varble’s suggestion that he had copied Varble’s priorities was untrue since, “At longest, his views are 2 years and 7 months old,” which is the length of time Varble lived in District 5 before running for office.

“My record on issues facing the City, as much as I have been able to address them through the various Boards on which I have served for 14 years, has been consistent with the positions I hold today,” Cronenwett added.

Cronenwett also denied ever attempting to “badger” the police association to change its endorsement, claiming, “While I questioned the decision of the Police Association to endorse a candidate before anyone had even filed to run, I never made an attempt to overturn that decision.”

Other candidates for District 5 include Heather Stroup, Jesse Koehler, and Anthony Stanford.

Stroup explained to The Dallas Express how she feels about the City of Irving and what she would bring to the position.

“I have been involved in the community for a long time. I see some gaps in how the City operates and feel we need alternate solutions,” Stroup said.

“My experience on the City Bond Task Force, Chamber of Commerce, and Irving ISD Committees has given me valuable insight on how municipal and state government works with these organizations,” she added.

Stroup’s priorities include improving city communication and citizen engagement efforts, supporting all essential city services, such as public safety, and increasing economic development and revitalization.

Kohler and Stanford have not filled out the candidate questionnaire provided by The Dallas Express.

Early voting for Irving City Council starts on April 24, and election day is May 6.