Veasey: Fort Worth needs ‘substantive change’ as it’s named 12th largest city in the U.S.

Fort Worth has experienced a huge population growth and likely will spend this decade surpassing Austin, according to a recent news report and preliminary data from the U.S. Census Bureau, but U.S. House Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) says his hometown isn’t getting any resulting love.

Veasey cited reports that Fort Worth is now the 12th largest city in the U.S. and will pass Austin by 2030, while Tarrant County remains the state’s third largest county.

“But, the real question is: Where are the jobs?” Veasey said in his June 1 Twitter post. “Building lots of dwellings, but where is the tax base and why are we never even mentioned in any major relo or HQ2 sweepstakes?”

Fort Worth jumped from the nation’s 13th to the 12th largest city and experienced the highest percentage increase of any U.S. city except Seattle, 5 NBCDFW reported in a news story that cited data released by the U.S. Census Bureau for last year.

Fort Worth’s population last year was 927,720, almost 180,000 more than the U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2010. 

NBCDFW cautioned that the Census data was the bureau’s “latest estimates” for last year and that a final count has yet to be released.

Fort Worth’s population still lags a hair behind Austin’s 978,763 and ahead of Jacksonville, Florida, where the Census Bureau’s preliminary data counted 823,146.

“Fort Worth’s move to the 12th largest city in the United States was expected but that doesn’t make the news any less exciting,” Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said in the NBCDFW news story. “Growth, especially the explosive growth we are seeing in Fort Worth, is always challenging for a city, but it is in that growth there is also massive opportunity.”

Veasey said in his Twitter post that Fort Worth’s lack of recognition, despite all its grown, is why his vote on Saturday, June 5, would be for longtime civil justice advocate Deborah Peoples in her runoff with former Price staff member Mattie Parker to replace Price.

“We seriously need substantive change,” Veasey said in his Twitter post four days before the runoff. “No more same ‘ol.”