Denton’s mayoral race will pit two veterans of city politics against two relative newcomers.

Incumbent Mayor Perry McNeill and former City Council member Mark Burroughs are seeking the city’s top elected position May 10 along with entrepreneur Justin Bell and swimming pool technician Darac Jason Favre.

Perry McNeill

Mark Burroughs

Justin Bell

Darac Jason Favre

“It’s going to be a horse race with two fairly well-known people,” said Ray Stephens, a former Denton mayor who is not aligned with any candidate. “And you don’t know what role the lesser-known candidates will play either.”

The race solidified as a four-man contest Monday as the deadline expired to file for a spot on the ballot. Hopefuls can still file as write-in candidates through March 17.

McNeill, seeking his second term as mayor, is a veteran of local elections, having won four straight races as a council or mayoral candidate after a lost council bid in 1999. Burroughs, a lawyer, won three council races between 1998 and 2004.

In contrast, Bell ran his first political race two years ago, when he lost to McNeill, and Favre is running his inaugural campaign this year. If recent history is any guide, the challengers face an uphill path.

No Denton mayor has lost a re-election bid since 1990, when political newcomer Bob Castle­berry, a sales executive and $10 million sweepstakes winner, unseated Stephens by pledging to reverse the city’s so-called “anti-business” reputation.

McNeill won his first term with nearly 57 percent of the 3,440 votes cast, defeating Bell and businessman Bob Clifton.

His predecessor, Euline Brock, a former City Council member, won three landslides between 2000 and 2004 against candidates who mostly lacked city government experience. Before Brock, Jack Miller handily outpolled three opponents in the 1996 mayoral race and credited his experience on the council as a key factor.

Two years later, Miller easily defeated two political newcomers to gain a second term. He did not run again in 2000, clearing the way for Brock’s ascendancy.

But traditional molds may be shattered this year in a race where two candidates have extensive community-service re­cords, Burroughs said.

“The history of Denton mayoral elections has not really had a situation of candidates that have similar backgrounds that are running for the same office at the same time,” Burroughs said. “If you look back at the races where there was a mayoral incumbent and those who ran against the incumbent since 1990, they have not been what you would classify as mainstream-type challengers — those who came from a long history of community service.”

“Certainly this is an unusual situation for the city of Denton, and I think a healthy one,” Burroughs said.

McNeill, a retired university professor and engineer, acknowledged Burroughs’ council experience but said he felt confident running on his own record.

“Part of any race is, ‘Do people know who you are?’ And certainly people know who Mark Burroughs is,” McNeill said. “But I’m not running against Mark Burroughs. I’m running as Perry McNeill, current mayor, and asking you to continue to support the activity that I’ve put forward.”

As for his other two challengers, McNeill said the experience question may or may not come into play.

“In looking at their resumes, they don’t have as much experience as I do in community service,” McNeill said. “But then the citizens will have to make that decision whether an individual without any experience could serve basically as chairman of the board of a major operation.”

Favre, a University of North Texas student majoring in political science and studio art, could not be reached for comment.

Bell, who received nearly 29 percent of the vote in 2006, said he believes he can expand his appeal this year. He co-owns Bell’s Super Lube, which sells lubricants for musical instruments.

“I’m going to continue to focus on the issues, and of course my platform is the primary responsibilities of city government taking precedence over other things,” Bell said, listing police and fire services, roads and other infrastructure as examples of key responsibilities. “I may have more success this time around given the changing economic climate of not only Denton but even across the nation.”

Still, Bell acknowledged in­cumbents often have built-in advantages.

“A lot of times the people that are involved with certain candidates have a lot of clout or pull within the community, or with the people who actually vote,” Bell said. “That’s probably why we see a lot of incumbents being re-elected.”

One example came two years ago, Bell said, when outgoing Mayor Brock funded a newspaper advertisement backing McNeill and two incumbent council members. The ad accused opposition candidates of seeking to slash funding for parks, libraries, the arts, senior programs, environmental efforts and animal services.

“The things that were listed were completely untrue and I think intentionally vague,” Bell said. “I think that was just playing to people’s fears, and it was uncalled for.”

Brock, who is backing Bur­roughs this year, said the ad was an attempt to respond to “highly inflammatory and highly misleading” ads published by an interest group that opposed the city’s efforts to revamp its property maintenance codes.

“At that time Mr. Bell wasn’t reluctant to join in the attacks that were going on that were based on the code enforcement issues,” Brock said. “There were people involved in that whole movement who were highly critical. So it would appear that Mr. Bell is trying to have it both ways.”

Stephens, the former mayor, said there’s a learning curve associated with council service. But experience can be more critical for some people than others, he added.

“A person can’t do a good job with anything if he or she doesn’t have an adequate background,” Stephens said. “Some people have the ability to learn quickly, and others don’t. So it gets down to the individual factor, then.”

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .

Here is a list of who filed to seek seats on the Denton City Council and the Denton school board. Incumbents are denoted with (I).

Denton City Council

Mayor

Justin Bell, 30, businessman

Mark Burroughs, 50, lawyer

Darac Jason Favre, 20, swimming pool technician

Perry McNeill (I), 71, retired college professor/engineer

Place 2

Rudy Moreno, 61, escrow officer

John Ryan, 42, real estate businessman

Place 5 (at large)

Pete Kamp, 55, sales businesswoman

Mike Sutton, 53, retail businessman

Place 6 (at large)

Jerry Mohelnitzky, 65, insurance salesman/financial adviser

Joe Mulroy (I), 58, businessman

Denton school board

Place 6

Jim Alexander (I), 61, university professor

Place 7

Rudy Rodriguez, 67, university professor