As voters headed to the polls on Saturday, friendly tension lingered between candidates, several of whom held fundamentally different visions for the future of both the city of Frisco and its school district of more than 55,000 students.

For the two of six city council seats up for election, voters sided with the incumbents, with Republican-aligning Will Sowell soundly defeating his Democratic-aligning challenger, Dave Bowsher, for the Place 3 seat, and Republican-aligning incumbent John Keating narrowly eking out a 51 percent majority in a three-way race between his challengers, K.D. Warach and Jason Money.

Two of seven seats were up for election on the school board, although only one was contested by more than one candidate. Incumbent School Board President John Classe ran unopposed and coasted to re-election for the Place 6 seat.

The Place 7 seat was an open seat, due to board trustee John Hoxie not seeking re-election. The race was between Linda McConnell and René Archambault. McConnell espoused disdain for the district’s current budgeting process and what she described as a lack of transparency while Archambault, defended much of the district’s current financial practices while advocating for tweaks, such as a new tax ratification election that wouldn’t raise property taxes.

Perhaps the biggest contrast between these two candidates was exemplified at a candidate forum last month, with McConnell saying she wants Frisco ISD to be the gold standard for education, while Archambault rebutted, saying Frisco already is the gold standard.

In the end, voters sided with Archambault (65 to 35 percent), who was endorsed by the mayor, various members of the city council, and nearly every member of the school board.

Voter turnout for all four races was low, with votes totals averaging between 6,000 and 7,000. This was down from last year’s contentious school board elections, where totals reached over 14,000.

Despite an official statement from the district and various concessions from candidates, votes for these races are deemed unofficial until they go through the official confirmation process later this month.