Dan Pope

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Dan Pope

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Mayor of Lubbock

Successor: Tray Payne

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Personal

Profession

Business owner

Contact

Personal website

Dan Pope was the Mayor of Lubbock in Texas. Pope assumed office on May 17, 2016. Pope left office in 2022.

Pope ran for re-election for Mayor of Lubbock in Texas. Pope won in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Mayoral elections in Lubbock are nonpartisan. Pope has stated that he is a Republican.

Biography

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Pope founded Benchmark Business Solutions in 1994. As of 2016, he had been a member of the Lubbock Independent School District Board of Trustees for nine years. He served as chair of Lubbock United Way in 2005. He also has experience as the chief development officer of Covenant Health System.

Elections

2022

See also: Mayoral election in Lubbock, Texas (2022)

Dan Pope did not file to run for re-election.

2020

See also: Mayoral election in Lubbock, Texas (2020)

General election

General election for Mayor of Lubbock

Incumbent Dan Pope defeated Stephen Sanders in the general election for Mayor of Lubbock on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dan Pope (Nonpartisan)	55.7	49,064
		Stephen Sanders (Nonpartisan)	44.3	38,981

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 88,045
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

General election

General election for Mayor of Lubbock

Incumbent Dan Pope defeated Jonathan Cothran and Stephen Sanders in the general election for Mayor of Lubbock on May 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dan Pope (Nonpartisan)	78.0	11,394
	Submit photo	Jonathan Cothran (Nonpartisan)	18.4	2,686
		Stephen Sanders (Nonpartisan)	3.6	524

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 14,604
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: Municipal elections in Lubbock, Texas (2016)

The city of Lubbock, Texas, held elections for mayor and city council on May 7, 2016. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was February 19, 2016. Four of six council seats were up for election on the same day, the three regularly-scheduled for election and District 1, which was up for a special election. Two of them were up for runoff election on June 25, 2016, including the District 1 seat. Dan Pope defeated Todd Klein, Victor Hernandez, and Ysidro Gutierrez in the Mayor of Lubbock general election.

Mayor of Lubbock, General Election, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Dan Pope	52.64%	11,134
Todd Klein	31.54%	6,672
Victor Hernandez	8.63%	1,825
Ysidro Gutierrez	7.20%	1,522
Total Votes		21,153
Source: Lubbock County, Texas, "General and Special Elections Official Results," accessed May 25, 2016

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Dan Pope did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Pope's website highlighted the following campaign themes:

Hiring a city manager

• Excerpt: "One of the big jobs facing the next city council is hiring a new city manager. The city manager is the CEO of the city government. This is a big task and I am up to that task. I have been part of a team responsible for hiring two school superintendents at LISD. I also led the effort to recruit and hire the CEO of a 5,000 employee health system. I am up to the job."

Budget

• Excerpt: "I will bring my record as a fiscal conservative and my common sense approach to city government. In simple words that means working and operating within our budget."

Water & electricity

• Excerpt: "Our efforts to bring water from Lake Alan Henry while at the same time acquiring ground water in Roberts and Bailey Counties have helped to created long-term water solutions. There is more work to be done in this area. We must explore ways to re-use treated water. This water source is cheaper and more sustainable."

Jobs

• Excerpt: "Markets thrive when government implements good policy (not too much of it), removes barriers and gets out of the way of our free enterprise system. The city of Lubbock has a role in partnering with Texas Tech, LCU, Wayland, SPC, K-12 education and the private sector to create the environment where businesses can grow. This will allow us to retain more of the talented young men and women who thrive in our schools."

Downtown

• Excerpt: "Downtown should be a great place to work, live and enjoy life. Downtown redevelopment efforts in Lubbock are making slow, steady progress. The private sector must take the lead in downtown revitalization."

Noteworthy events

Events and activity following the death of George Floyd

See also: Events following the death of George Floyd and responses in select cities from May 29-31, 2020

Pope was mayor of Lubbock during the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, when events and activity took place in cities across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd. Events in Lubbock, Texas began on Saturday, May 30, 2020. No curfews were issued. The national guard was not deployed.

To read more about the death of George Floyd and subsequent events, click [show] to the right.

On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers arrested Floyd, a Black man, after receiving a call that he had made a purchase with a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, a White officer, arrived at the scene and pressed his knee onto Floyd's neck as Floyd laid face-down on the street in handcuffs. Both the Hennepin County Medical Examiner and an independent autopsy conducted by Floyd's family ruled Floyd's death as a homicide stemming from the incident. The medical examiner's report, prepared by Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Allecia Wilson, said that it was "not a legal determination of culpability or intent, and should not be used to usurp the judicial process." On April 20, 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in relation to Floyd's death. Floyd's death was filmed and shared widely, leading to activity regarding racism, civil rights, and police use of force. The first events took place in Minneapolis-St. Paul on May 26. An event in Chicago organized by Chance the Rapper and Rev. Michael Pfleger took place the same day, making it the first major city outside of Minneapolis to host an event in response to Floyd's death.

See also

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Personal

Website

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Mayor of Lubbock 2016-2022	Succeeded by Tray Payne