By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief

I’m sure you have heard, but if you’ve been living under a rock, here’s a gentle reminder that Amarillo has an election for mayor coming up next year. In May 2023, we will elect the person who will be sitting in the center of the city council dais for the next two years, serving as the head of the board of directors that governs our city.

During last year’s mayoral election, Amarillo saw what can only be described politely as a complete and total dumpster fire. Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson easily won a majority of the vote, while well-meaning but misled activists pushed as their candidate a previously defeated and controversial ex-paralegal with zero political or board experience and a shoddy record of involvement before her campaign. She was perhaps best known for having a business/fundraising/romantic association with a controversial haunted house owner who was himself best known for his creation of fake news posts on social media that ultimately only hurt the credibility of actual critics of our local establishment.

It was no surprise Nelson defeated the horrible candidate the Amarillo grassroots selected as their chosen one, despite the fact that a third candidate was running for mayor who had a track record of business, educational, and non-profit leadership experience, a solid voting record, past conservative political involvement, and no controversial political ties or baggage of any kind. But apparently a stable, conservative businessman wasn’t as exciting for Amarillo voters as a candidate riddled with controversy, who, to paraphrase Better Call Saul, if elected, would have been like handing a monkey a machine gun.

As soon as the 2021 election was over, the once again defeated runner-up went on the warpath, with her and her significant other attacking everyone who they felt cost her the election, and many of her supporters have refused to acknowledge that she lost fairly. I have seen many claim a 2020-style election stealing scheme, despite no evidence, and a recount showing no change in the vote. I have seen others claim that the “votes were split,” meaning that additional challengers watered down the poor candidate’s vote share and ultimately cost her the election. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as in Texas, a candidate is required to win 50 percent of the vote to win an election, and if no candidate wins 50 percent, a runoff is held. Mayor Nelson won over 50 percent of the vote, meaning that if every vote cast for a challenger had been cast for just one single challenger, that one candidate would not have received enough votes to win the election anyway.

I’m no fan of Ginger Nelson, I have never voted for her for anything, and I can’t see myself ever voting for her, but the excuses for why she was re-elected have gotten crazy. And with that in mind, it’s my humble opinion that it’s time to reassess, regroup, reorganize, and move on to the 2023 election. And we can’t do it with the same old approach to the elections we have been using in the past.

So far for 2023, it looks like at least two candidates will be running for mayor — local cryptocurrency trader Dan North, who announced his campaign on Facebook with a promise to bring Vanilla Ice to Amarillo; and Claudette Smith, the now-twice-defeated former paralegal who has apparently spent her time off from the campaign trail feuding with ABC 7 Amarillo.

Yeah, those are not winning candidates.

Call me crazy, but I think it’s time that Amarillo voters stop promoting losing faux-activists for major political positions like mayor, and instead focus on electing qualified individuals who can actually do the jobs they are running to hold.

It seems like such a novel concept — choose someone qualified for the job who can both do the job and actually win the election. Wow!

So, here’s the deal: we know Claudette Smith can’t actually win the election and she isn’t qualified to be mayor.

As for Dan North, we need to see more plans, but I wouldn’t bet on his Vanilla Ice/WNBA-centered “Dan Plan” having the weight to win an election.

Instead, I think Amarillo voters need to back a person for mayor who is experienced, qualified, and who can actually win the race for the job they are seeking. And I believe one person has just risen to the forefront, who while not yet a candidate, would be an extremely formidable choice if they put their name on the ballot.

The person I am speaking of is local businessman Alex Fairly.

Fairly has gone toe-to-toe with the City of Amarillo and Mayor Nelson on numerous occasions now and has almost always come out a winner. Now, he’s taking the City of Amarillo to court for bypassing the will of the voters by forcing taxpayers to pay for a civic center rebuild project they rejected in a 2020 bond election.

This is what Fairly had to say about his lawsuit against the City in an exclusive statement to the Amarillo Pioneer on the day the lawsuit was publicly announced:

“This entire process has become unhealthy and unprincipled. There are times in life where we need to take a stand and this is one of those time for me.”

I couldn’t agree more and I sincerely thank Fairly for stepping up and filing this lawsuit. But beyond just that, I also think Fairly’s statement could apply to Amarillo elections as well. And just as Alex Fairly is stepping up to defend Amarillo in court, I believe he would be an ideal candidate to step up and defend Amarillo taxpayers at City Council meetings.

Think about it: Fairly would be qualified, he would be experienced, he would be ready to do the job on his first day in office, and, best of all, he could win the election for mayor. He has shown he is unafraid to challenge the status quo and has faced the Amarillo establishment head-on and has won, time and time again.

Alex Fairly is exactly the type of person we need running for mayor in our city.

It’s time we stop with the same old bull that we have been seeing in the past few Amarillo mayoral elections and get back to reality with a qualified candidate who can both win the election and do the job they desire to hold. And that is exactly why Alex Fairly is just the type of candidate we need running for mayor in Amarillo.

It may never happen, but I hope in 2023, Amarillo might just convince Alex Fairly to be our candidate for mayor and save us from higher taxes, bad government, and the same old losing candidates who never seem to learn. We can get this right, but we need a candidate like Alex Fairly on the ballot to help our city.