Overview
Two candidates are vying for Place 4 on the Kerrville City Council. Brenda Hughes, the incumbent, is seeking a third and final term in office. Barbara Dewell Ferguson has not served on council before, and seeks to unseat Hughes. The winner will serve a two-year term in office as one of five members of council.
Age
Brenda Hughes and Barbara Dewell Ferguson are both 65 years of age.
Higher Education
Hughes studied criminal justice at ACC, UOP, and AU. Ferguson has a Bachelor’s in Art and Psychology from Anderson University, South Carolina.
Career
Hughes owns Buzzie’s BBQ, a Kerrville restaurant. Ferguson reports that she has worked as a land developer, stay at home mom, bookkeeper, and training manager.
Previous Elected Offices and Campaigns
Brenda Hughes was elected to city council in 2020. Barbara Dewell Ferguson has not previously held public office in Kerrville, but ran and lost in 2023 against Jeff Harris. She was a delegate to the Republican Party Texas State Conventions in 2020 and 2022.
City Boards
Hughes has served on the Food Service Advisory Board for two terms, and had two terms as Chairperson of this board.
Ferguson served on the Public Safety Facilities Committee, but did not sign onto the committee’s recommendation to build a new facility in Kerrville for police and firefighters headquarters.
Local Nonprofit Service
Brenda Hughes is a founding member and vice president of Kerrville Pets Alive! (a local nonprofit supporting animal welfare). She is a member of the Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce, served on the Kerr County Capital Improvement Planning Committee for three years, is a board of directors member for Hill Country CASA, is a former chair of the City of Kerrville Food Service Advisory Committee, former member and second vice-president of the Republican Women of Kerr County, and a founding member of the Hill Country Animal Advocates.
Ferguson does not report any local nonprofit service on her resume.
Kerrville Forward’s Endorsement
Barbara Dewell Ferguson has misrepresented the truth and engaged in conspiracy theories during her campaign in 2023 and through present day. An alarmist, she has sowed division and angered the community with half-truths or outright misrepresentations of the truth. Therefore she is unfit to serve on an important government body such as city council.
Brenda Hughes, on the other hand, has been a forthright and humble public servant during her time on city council. When she began her term in 2020, she had a viewpoint and opinion about how the city operated, and once she saw for herself how things operated at the city and at city council, her viewpoints changed. She is willing to adapt based on new information and has been extremely cooperative with her other council members. This has caused her to lose certain supporters, but she has held firm in her convictions.
We enthusiastically endorse Brenda Hughes for another term on city council.