Mark Hill wins Frisco mayor runoff, defeating Rod Vilhauer

Mark Hill defeated Rod Vilhauer in Frisco’s mayoral runoff, winning 19,632 votes, or 58.12%, to Vilhauer’s 14,146, or 41.88%. The result capped a race that became a referendum on whether overtly anti-Muslim appeals could still carry in a fast-growing North Texas suburb where demographic change has reshaped the electorate.

The runoff followed the May 2 general election, when Hill led the four-candidate field with 8,728 votes and Vilhauer finished second with 7,910, forcing a head-to-head contest after no one cleared a majority. Early voting ran June 1-9, and all precincts reported in the runoff on June 13. The results remain unofficial until the Frisco City Council canvasses them at its June 23 Summer Work Session.

Frisco’s numbers help explain why the campaign drew attention well beyond city limits. The city’s population rose from 200,509 in the 2020 Census to an estimated 236,955 in July 2025. In the city’s 2020-2024 estimates, 28.1% of residents were Asian, 12.7% were Hispanic or Latino, and 27.3% were foreign-born. That shift has made Frisco one of the fastest-growing cities in the country and a place where coalition-building now matters as much as raw turnout.

Hill, a former Frisco ISD board trustee and attorney, entered the runoff with a base built on his strong general election showing and a message that appealed across a broader electorate. Vilhauer, a businessman who founded an excavation company and served on the Frisco Planning and Zoning Commission, was unable to expand enough beyond his core support in the final round. In the runoff, Hill’s margin was decisive enough to show that the race’s harshest identity-based rhetoric did not translate into a winning majority.

The contest also marks a turning point for city leadership. Jeff Cheney, first elected mayor in May 2017 and reelected in November 2023, is finishing his term after overseeing a period of explosive growth and major projects, including the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, the Fields development, the University of North Texas-Frisco Campus, downtown redevelopment, the new Frisco Public Library and Grand Park. Hill will inherit the pressures that come with that expansion: traffic congestion, public safety demands and long-term infrastructure planning.

If the canvass confirms the runoff results, Frisco will have its first new mayor in nine years. The vote suggests that in a changing suburb, candidates who lean too heavily on division may find a harder ceiling than they expect.