Updated at noon: Revised to include new information.

It's often an aggravating, dead-end job with no prospects for higher office, but that hasn't stopped numerous potential candidates from exploring campaigns for Dallas mayor.

With less than a year before the 2019 municipal elections, at least 16 contenders are jockeying or being mentioned as possible successors to Mayor Mike Rawlings, who will leave office in June after serving eight years as leader of the council.

The list, heavy with City Council members, includes some of the biggest names in local politics.

At issue for them is how to articulate a vision for the city after the leadership of Rawlings, the former Pizza Hut CEO who tackled critical issues, including bridging the divide between the city's prosperous northern and struggling southern areas. Rawlings also excelled at crisis management, steering the city through the 2014 Ebola crisis and the 2016 ambush and shooting deaths of five police officers.

But as in any major city, there's a lot of work to be done.

"The next mayor really needs to move it to the next level," said Dallas political consultant Carol Reed, who managed the successful mayoral campaigns of Ron Kirk and Tom Leppert. "It takes a mayor to make important things happen and keep the city on the right path."

Reed and other consultants say the mayor's race will feature a lot of candidates, but they will be weeded out by the need for campaign cash.

"It's going to take at least $1.5 million, and that's on the low end," Reed said.

Rawlings was elected in 2011 after a race against former council member Ron Natinsky and former Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle. Rawlings won by carrying precincts all over the city, including in southern Dallas.

Next year's race, however, could resemble the 2007 mayoral campaign, when 11 candidates vied to replace Laura Miller. Leppert beat former council member Ed Oakley in a runoff.

The contenders

Dallas businessman Albert Black already has a campaign manager and is aggressively seeking support.

Former Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt is considering running for the top job, but so are two of her biggest allies — council members Philip Kingston and Scott Griggs.

Jennifer Staubach Gates has long been mentioned as a contender but has not committed to a campaign. She's the daughter of NFL Hall of Famer and Dallas Cowboys legend Roger Staubach.

Other council members weighing their options are Adam McGough and Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, who has long wanted to run the council and served as mayor when Leppert resigned to run for U.S. Senate.

Miller was the last council member to win the mayor's seat, as the city has been known to elect leaders with the backing of the city's business elite.

So far, business leaders who are contenders are not in the majority. Mike Ablon, who developed the Dallas Design District, is considering a campaign, as well as developer Phillip Huffines, the former chairman of the Dallas County Republican Party. Huffines, who now lives in Richardson, lost a Texas Senate primary in March to Republican Angela Paxton.

Dallas businessman Peter Brodsky, who owns Southwest Center Mall, is also considered a possible mayoral candidate.

Other potential candidates include Dallas lawyer and Park Board President Bobby Abtahi and Regina Montoya, the former senior vice president and general counsel of Children's Medical Center who worked for the Clinton administration.

Two state representatives — Helen Giddings, D-DeSoto, and Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, have been mentioned as potential Rawlings successors.

Giddings is retiring from the Legislature after 24 years, and Villalba lost a House primary race to Republican Lisa Luby Ryan.

Operatives and business leaders have been trying to get state Rep. Rafael Anchia to run for mayor for years. He's mulling it over — again.

Some have also courted Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa.

Most of the 16 people identified acknowledged that they had either been approached or are considering running for mayor but would not comment further.

Gates, for instance, said she won't make a final decision until at least late fall.

The upcoming midterm elections, which will hold the attention of most voters, make it impractical to start a legitimate mayoral effort.

Of the potential candidates, Gates has an early advantage. She's on the council and would benefit from her father, a real estate executive who has critical ties to the city's business elite.

The other potential candidates on the council enjoy some name recognition and political bases. And while the contenders from the business community are largely unknown, they have the ability to raise large sums of money in order to build name identification with voters.

Other candidates are likely to emerge. And like Rawlings and Leppert, the most formidable contender might not be revealed until later this year or early 2019.

1 / 16Michael Ablon(David Woo / Staff Photographer) 2 / 16Bobby Abtahi(Brandon Wade / Special Contributor) 3 / 16Rafael Anchia(Mercedes Olivera / Staff) 4 / 16Albert Black Jr. (Kye R. Lee / Staff Photographer) 5 / 16Peter Brodsky(Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 6 / 16Dwaine Caraway(Guy Reynolds / Staff Photographer) 7 / 16Adam McGough(Michael Ainsworth / Staff Photographer) 8 / 16Jennifer Staubach Gates(Mosaic Family Services) 9 / 16Helen Giddings(Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 10 / 16Scott Griggs(Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 11 / 16Michael Hinojosa(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 12 / 16Phillip Huffines(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 13 / 16Angela Hunt(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 14 / 16Philip Kingston(Evans Caglage / Staff Photographer) 15 / 16Regina Montoya(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 16 / 16Jason Villalba(Gittings Photography / Courtesy State Representative Jason Villalba)

Low pay, low engagement

Economics prevent some big-name candidates from committing to the race. Mayoral hopefuls have been unable to get the "Ron Kirk deal," when occurred when his law firm paid his salary while he served as mayor.

At $80,000 a year, most business leaders would be taking a pay cut to leave their careers for public service.

Meanwhile, most agree that Rawlings' successor should be a leader who can tap into the city's vast potential, including reaching residents disconnected from the political process.

A February poll commissioned by The Dallas Morning News found that voter participation in the city was shockingly low. Rawlings has proposed moving municipal elections from May to November to encourage greater participation.

Some say Dallas leaders need to engage all residents, including transplants.

"We need a leader who can bridge the different factions in the city," Paul Quinn College President Michael Sorrell said. "We need a leader who has a vision for this city that's larger than the usual rhetoric. This is a much different city than in the past because more people are moving here from different places than ever before."

Others agreed that more innovation is needed in Dallas government and politics.

"The next mayor of Dallas needs to do more than simply articulate the challenges our city faces," said Matt Tranchin, executive director of the Coalition for a New Dallas, an organization that advocates policies that improve mobility and generate economic development. "They need to discuss innovative solutions from across the country that are already achieving tangible results and commit to implementing those policies, if elected."

Fred Perpall, chairman-elect of the Dallas Citizens Council, praised Rawlings and called for more collaboration.

"Mayor Mike Rawlings has served our city well and brought us ever closer to realizing our vision of being a global city," he said. "The next mayor must also focus on a pro-growth agenda that prioritizes the improvement of essential infrastructure, such as education, transportation, long-term water supply, health care, and most importantly, economic inclusivity."

He added: "Now is the time to be forward-thinking and collaborative. The practical solutions to the challenges our city is facing will require leadership that can unify our city from the most southern neighborhood to the most northern neighborhood. We will all need to partner together for the future prosperity of our city."

Chris Heinbaugh, former chief of staff for Leppert, said mayors need to prioritize communication with residents.

"One of the most important things is listening," Heinbaugh said. "The mayor needs to understand that there is a demand on your time and people have a desire to see their mayor. Communication is important. Leppert sometimes had three meetings a night."

Who might run for Dallas mayor?