group of Richardson residents, upset that Slagel had not been re-elected as mayor, founded a political action group called the Richardson Coalition. This group raised money to promote its agenda, emphasizing what it believed was right with the City. The group made no direct contributions to candidates, but published and mailed a controversial color voter's guide in which they endorsed a slate of candidates. The Coalition endorsed candidates opposing each of the Council members that ended Slagel's tenure as mayor in 2007 (except for Steve Mitchell, who was unopposed in 2009). In the case of Place 7, the Coalition endorsed newcomer Amir Omar over incumbent Dennis Stewart. The fact that Omar is Muslim was a strong background issue. However, incumbent Dennis Stewart did not make an issue of Omar's religion in public and in fact referred to the nights that he as a Richardson police officer spent outside the mosque in the southeast Richardson after September 11, 2001, to ensure that there was no backlash against Muslims in Richardson because of the terror attacks. According to the Dallas Morning News, Omar outspent and outworked incumbent Stewart, and won by 220 votes, 51.54% to 48.46%. City Council Race in 2011 Prior to the 2011 City Council election, a local citizen group called the "Richardson Citizens Alliance" arose to combat the Richardson Coalition and to "oust" incumbents. This group originally tried to run a serious candidate against Omar, but switched that candidate to another place and persuaded neighborhood leader Diana Clawson to run against Omar. Known mostly in her local neighborhood on the east side of Richardson, Ms. Clawson received less than a third of the vote against Omar, who won with 63% of the vote in a field of three (a third candidate, Alan North, did no campaigning at all yet still received over 4% of the vote). City Council Race in 2013 On November 14, 2012, just days after Richardson voters approved a change in the city charter to elect the mayor directly, Omar announced his intention to run for mayor. Unlike other council members, Omar was forced to make a decision, because Place 7, the place that he held since 2009, was being converted to the mayor's place by the charter change approved by Richardson voters on November 6, 2012. Rather than run for a different place, Omar decided to run for his current place, but this time as