Salazar, a Democrat, started in the San Antonio Police Department before climbing the ranks and being elected sheriff.

SAN ANTONIO — Gina Ortiz Jones added to her tally of key endorsements Thursday, capturing the support of Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar as she continues her campaign for mayor of San Antonio.

Ortiz Jones, the former Air Force under secretary, is facing off against former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos in the June 7 runoff election after they finished as the top vote-getters in May’s packed mayoral race. Earlier this week she secured the endorsements of former mayors Julian Castro and Phil Hardberger, along with some sitting City Council members.

Pablos was endorsed Tuesday by the San Antonio Police Officers Association, which represents the city’s police force.

Salazar and Ortiz Jones were introduced Thursday by Patricia Castillo, executive director of the P.E.A.C.E. Initiative. The San Antonio nonprofit works to support survivors of domestic violence while advocating for institutional change in response to a worsening issue in the county.

The sheriff then introduced himself, referencing his past experience as a San Antonio police officer and saying the city is “where it all starts” when it comes to public safety in Bexar County.

“Top leaders absolutely have to get along and have to see eye to eye on things,” Salazar said. “And when we don’t see eye to eye, we’ve got to have the kind of relationship to call each other out on things and settle our difference, come to some mutual understanding on ways to move forward to protect our community together.

“I’ve got that kind of relationship with Ron Nirenberg,” he continued, referencing San Antonio’s four-term mayor who will leave office next month. “I’m sad to see him go. But I’m super stoked to see who’s most likely coming along (to succeed him), in my opinion.”

Salazar referenced Ortiz Jones’ background as a daughter of immigrants and experience overseeing a billion-dollar Air Force budget as reasons why he was throwing his support behind her.

“Her leadership is unquestioned. In my book, she is who we need.”

Ortiz Jones is the more left-leaning of the two remaining mayoral candidates, having been appointed by then-President Joe Biden and called out the education priorities of Texas Republican leaders in a recent debate with Pablos.

That lines up with Salazar’s political ideology. A Democrat, he took the stage at the 2024 Democratic National Convention to blast then-Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump as a “self-serving man” when it comes to safeguarding the border and South Texas communities.

Ortiz Jones, who collected 27.2% of the vote in the May 3 election while running against 26 other candidates, thanked Castillo for her community work while indicating she herself is a domestic violence survivor. She said having a relationship with Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai would be a crucial first step towards addressing local public safety challenges, were she to be elected next month.

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways

San Antonio’s next mayor will be Gina Ortiz Jones, a 44-year-old West Side native who rose from John Jay High School to the top ranks of the U.S. military on an ROTC scholarship.

Jones defeated Rolando Pablos, a close ally of Texas GOP leaders, with 54% of the vote on Saturday night in a high-profile, bitterly partisan runoff.

Thanks to new, longer terms that voters approved in November, this year’s mayor and City Council winners will be the first to serve four-year terms before they must seek reelection.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

The closely watched runoff came after Jones took a commanding 10-percentage-point lead in last month’s 27-candidate mayoral election, but weathered nearly $1 million in attacks from Pablos and his Republican allies.

At the Dakota East Side Ice House, a beaming Jones said she was proud of a campaign that treated people with dignity and respect.

She also said she was excited that San Antonio politics could deliver some positivity in an otherwise tumultuous news cycle.

“With everything happening around us at the federal level and at the state level, some of the most un-American things we have seen in a very, very long time, it’s very heartening to see where we are right now,” she said shortly after the early results came in.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

When it became clear the results would hold, Jones returned to remark that “deep in the heart of Texas,” San Antonio voters had reminded the world that it’s a city built on “compassion.”

Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” blared over the speakers to the roughly 250 supporters celebrating with drinks on a hot evening.

At Pablos’ watch party, he said Jones’ overwhelming victory surprised him. The conservative Northside votes he was counting on to carry him didn’t wind up materializing.

“The fact is that San Antonio continues to be a blue city,” Pablos told reporters at the Drury Inn & Suites’ Old Spanish Ballroom near La Cantera. “This [race] became highly partisan, and today it showed.”

An unusual race

After an overwhelmingly long ticket discouraged much voter interest in the first round, San Antonio’s mayoral race suddenly took on new significance when it came down to a runoff between Jones, a two-time Democratic congressional candidate, and Pablos, a close ally of Texas’ GOP leaders.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

The two City Hall outsiders boxed out a host of candidates with more local government experience, including four sitting council members, and sent local politicos scrambling into their partisan camps for an otherwise nonpartisan race.

It also drew major interest from state and national political interests, with Republican and Democratic PACs each targeting a position that could be a springboard for a future politician from either party.

Between the candidates and their supporting outside groups, the runoff had already drawn roughly $1.7 million in spending as of May 28 — the last date covered by campaign finance reports before the election.

Both 2025 mayoral runoff campaigns and their supporting outside groups spent big on mailers, text messages and TV ads.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

At a recent Jones rally on the West Side, new Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said Republicans’ willingness to sink unheard-of money into symbolic victories was enough to spur the Democratic state party to spend money on Jones’ behalf near the end of the runoff — in a city where Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans.

“These races are supposed to be nonpartisan, they are the ones making them not nonpartisan,” Scudder said of Texas Republicans. “They are the ones that are coming in and flooding money into these races … and we have to stand on the front lines of that.”

Third time’s a charm

For Jones, who most recently served as Air Force Under Secretary in the Biden administration, this is the third high-profile race Democratic interests have expected her to win.

She came close in 2018 in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, losing by roughly 1,000 votes to Republican Will Hurd, then lost by a larger margin in the same district two years later to U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Both were multimillion-dollar, top-tier races in the battle for the U.S. House, and the losses stung so much that Jones chose to watch last month’s election results in private — even though she’d led every public poll leading up to it.

At her watch party on Saturday night, Jones was joined by the iconic local activist Rosie Castro and former Mayor Julián Castro, as well as representatives from an array of outside groups that helped her in the race: Texas Organizing Project, Vote Vets, and labor unions, to name a few.

Underscoring the growing progressive influence at City Hall, Councilmembers Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2), Phyllis Viagran (D3), Edward Mungia (D4) and Teri Castillo (D5) also attended.

Another new progressive, 24-year-old Ric Galvan, was celebrating a narrow victory for District 6 on the city’s West Side.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

The Democratic National Committee, Texas Democratic Party and Democratic Mayors Association all put out statements congratulating Jones.

“With her win in a heavily-Latino city, Mayor-elect Jones will continue the legacy of Mayor Nirenberg and move San Antonio forward,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “From school boards to city councils to mayoral offices across the state, Texas voters are making their voice heard loud and clear: They want strong Democratic leaders who will fight for them.”

Bucking rightward shifts

Going into the night, conservatives controlled just one seat on San Antonio’s City Council, while Republican elected officials on the whole have been nearing extinction in Bexar County.

Nevertheless, Republicans saw a big opportunity in the nonpartisan city election.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Mayors of Texas’ major urban centers have steadily become less progressive as longtime incumbents termed out, and in the November election, President Donald Trump flipped two historically blue counties in South Texas — fueling greater intrigue about Hispanic voters becoming more Republican.

Pablos and his allies sought to cast Jones as a progressive zealot, with a PAC supporting him dubbing her the “AOC of Texas” in recent days and the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association threatening that she would defund the police (something Jones has said she doesn’t plan to do).

Pablos purposefully dropped the “Ortiz” from her name nearly every time he was in front of a microphone, and ran ads accusing Jones, who is Filipina, of pretending to be Hispanic.

It was an unexpected approach from a well-known business attorney with good relationships on both sides of the aisle, and deviation from the “unity candidate” he set out to be more than a year ago when describing plans for his first political venture in San Antonio.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Pabos said Saturday that he was proud of the race he ran, even when it got ugly. The crowd at his watch party even booed Jones when her face came on the TV screen after early results were announced.

“I think that my team did a great job. I think we ran an excellent campaign,” said Pablos, who vowed to continue looking for ways to serve the community. “What we did is we just laid everything out for everybody to look at and consider.”

A vision built from personal experience

Jones, whose family grew up leaning on housing vouchers and other forms of government support, crafted a campaign around protecting San Antonio’s most vulnerable residents — particularly in times of political uncertainty at the state and federal levels.

She was one of the most vocal critics of the city’s plans for a roughly $4 billion downtown development project and NBA arena for the San Antonio Spurs known as Project Marvel early in the race, saying she instead wanted to focus city resources on expanded Pre-K programs, workforce development and affordable housing.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

It was a major contrast to Pablos, a former San Antonio Hispanic Chamber chair, who vowed to focus on bringing major corporations to San Antonio, and led even some left-leaning members of the business community to view her with uncertainty.

A surprising number of progressive elected officials either stayed out of the runoff entirely or publicly backed Pablos.

Jones seemed undeterred by that dynamic, saying often on the campaign trail that her own approach was rooted in personal experience with leaders who only listen to the privileged few.

She joined the military under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell more than two decades ago at Boston University, and will now be the city’s first mayor from the LGBTQ community.

“That experience [of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell] showed me the importance of when you are in leadership, always having the humility to ask, ‘Who am I not hearing from? And why am I not hearing from them?” Jones said at a recent San Antonio Report debate.

Jones pointed to San Antonio’s ongoing struggle with poverty — despite major investments over many years to try to change that reputation.

“We’ve had, I think, too many leaders listening to too small a part of our community.”

Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O’Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer.

Get tickets.

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.

SAN ANTONIO – Public endorsements are emerging for the final two candidates in the San Antonio mayor’s race, Gina Ortiz Jones and Rolando Pablos.

Jones and Pablos defeated 25 other candidates on May 3, but since neither secured 50% of the vote, they will meet again in the June 7 runoff.

Prominent figures and organizations that withheld their endorsements initially are now publicly declaring their support.

Who’s endorsing whom in the San Antonio mayoral runoff election?

As of Tuesday, May 13, here’s what we know about the endorsements and supporters for mayoral candidates.

Rolando Pablos

Pablos, the former Texas secretary of state and Texas Public Utility commissioner, received 17% of the vote in the May 3 election.

>> MEET THE CANDIDATE: 3 questions with Rolando Pablos

The San Antonio Police Officers’ Association, the union representing SAPD officers, announced it is publicly backing Pablos in the runoff.

SAPOA President Danny Diaz announced the endorsement on Tuesday, May 13.

“If you support law enforcement and a safer community, we encourage you to vote for our endorsed candidates on June 7,” Diaz said in a news conference.

Following the endorsement, Pablos emphasized that crime is a concern in the city, and his main focus is ensuring adequate funding for law enforcement.

Other notable supporters listed on Pablos’ campaign website include:

Julie and Balous Miller of Bill Miller Bar-B-Q

Maggie and Gordon Hartman

Former Congressman Will Hurd

Gina Ortiz Jones

Jones is an Air Force veteran who served as undersecretary of the Air Force in Washington, D.C. She received the majority of the vote — 27% — in the May 3 election.

>> MEET THE CANDIDATE: 3 questions with Gina Ortiz Jones

On Facebook, Jones said she’s endorsed by:

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar

Former San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger

Former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro

District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez

District 3 Councilwoman Phyllia Viagran

District 4 Councilman-elect Edward Mungia

District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo

American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

City Employees Union

In a joint statement posted on Facebook, Hardberger and Julián Castro said: “As former mayors of this great city, we enthusiastically support former Under Secretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones for mayor of San Antonio. We are confident Gina will bring our community together with a strong, positive vision for our city’s future and a commitment to serving all San Antonians. She has the experience, judgment and integrity to stand up for what’s right, even when it’s not easy.

“We are convinced Gina is the right choice for mayor and we ask you and your family to vote for her on June 7th.”

This article will be updated as more endorsements are announced.

The race to become San Antonio’s next mayor is headed toward a partisan showdown between one candidate loved by national Democratic Party leaders and another who has close ties to the Republicans who control every lever of power in Texas state government.

With all vote centers counted, former Air Force Under Secretary Gina Ortiz Jones and former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos were leading a field of 27 candidates, taking 27.2% and 16.6% respectively.

Since no candidate took at least 50% of the vote, Jones and Pablos will advance to a June 7 runoff.

Jones has ties to major Democratic donors and lawmakers from two high-profile congressional races she narrowly lost. Many of those allies returned to help her in the mayoral race.

“It feels really good,” Jones said in an interview along the Flambeau Parade route Saturday night, where supporters high-fived her and stopped to take photos with the potential next mayor.

Gina Ortiz Jones celebrates with revelers after making the runoff election at the Fiesta Flambeau Parade late Saturday. Credit: Brenda Bazán / San Antonio Report

“This whole team has worked very hard and it was important for me to just kind of cherish this moment with them, because we know the work is not done,” she said before heading into Knockout Sports Bar with her campaign team.

“We’ve got 30 ahead of us to continue to show voters what I look forward to doing, in concert with the rest of the City Council, to make sure we move our city forward.”

Pablos, who was appointed to his secretary of state role by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, had help in the race from a PAC run by the governor’s former political director.

From a watch party at Drury La Cantera’s old Spanish ballroom, Pablos acknowledged that electing a candidate with conservative background would be a major switch for blue San Antonio.

“I want to thank the people of San Antonio who spoke that they want change,” he said. “Our campaign has been based on change. We want to make sure that we take San Antonio in a completely different direction.”

Historically, San Antonio has shown preference for candidates with council experience. The city has elected just one mayor without it in 70 years — Phil Hardberger — making the dominance of City Hall outsiders in this race highly unusual.

Altamirano had the backing of former Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, and between his campaign and supporting PAC, called SA Future, a total of about $465,000 was spent on his behalf in the past month.

In his concession speech Saturday night, Altamirano thanked Wolff for believing in him, and suggested his political career might just be getting started.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m 35 years old, time is on my side,” said Altamirano, who started his career working in Democratic politics.

Mayoral candidate Beto Altamirano takes the podium to deliver a concession speech during his campaign party at Shotgun House Coffee Roasters on San Antonio’s West Side. Credit: Amber Esparza for the San Antonio Report

Pelaez, an attorney from the Northwest side, recently loaned his campaign more than $300,000 and has been getting help from an outside group that doesn’t have to disclose its donors.

Rocha Garcia, on the other hand, raised and spent very little on the race, relying on volunteer campaign help. She’s represented District 4 since 2021 and long been viewed as a potential rising star — if not for the fact that her Southwest district has some of the city’s lowest voter turnout.

Final results:

Former Air Force Under Secretary Gina Ortiz Jones 27.2%

Former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos: 16.61%

Tech entrepreneur Beto Altamirano 12.05%

Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4) 9.89%

Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8) 7.31%

Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6) 6.66%

Councilman John Courage (D9) 5.56%

Former Councilman Clayton Perry: 5.51%

An unusually crowded race

Mayor Ron Nirenberg termed out this year after eight years in the role, and lots of local political talent had been waiting for such an opportunity this year.

At the same time, Democrats and Republicans at the state and national level also set their sights on installing one of their own to lead a city they say has tremendous significance in their party’s future.

Texas’ big city mayors have steadily become less progressive as traditional liberal incumbents termed out, and all eyes will be on San Antonio as Jones and Pablos face off in what is supposed to be a nonpartisan race.

“A majority of the voters in an election with a fairly low turnout chose candidates who will not be in the runoff,” said Nirenberg’s chief of staff and political adviser Zack Lyke. “Both campaigns will need new strategies to make the case that they understand the job and are ready to hit the ground running.”

Mayoral candidate Rolando Pablos speaks to supporters during a watch party for election results at the Drury La Cantera on Saturday. Credit: Vincent Reyna for the San Antonio Report

Jones is an outspoken progressive who would be the city’s first openly gay mayor. In the first round of the mayoral race she benefited from spending by a national PAC seeking to build a bench of future leaders in state and local races.

“I love how progressive she is, I love that she’s a woman, I love that she served in the military,” said Kendall Cantor, a 28-year-old nurse who stopped Jones at the parade to say she’d voted for her. “I want to keep San Antonio blue.”

If Pablos wins, it would be a major power shift in an overwhelmingly blue city.

Republicans currently control just one out of 10 San Antonio City Council seats, and Pablos has laid plans for a conservative approach to city government, including a sunset commission to reduce the size of city government and a think tank to advise on the city’s municipally owned utilities.

“San Antonio now has a clear choice, and I am confident they will reject Gina Jones for what she represents: more of the same,” Pablos said in a statement Saturday night. “I look forward to a robust, spirited debate over the next month.”

Notably absent from the May 3 race was an assortment of local groups that have been major players in past city elections that decided it was too risky to get involved in a race with so many candidates and few clear frontrunners.

The San Antonio Police Officers Association, the San Antonio firefighters’ union, the union representing city employees (AFSCME), the progressive Texas Organizing Project all declined to weigh in until at least the runoff.

San Antonio Report freelancer Amber Esparza contributed to this story.

Correction: This story has been updated to remove an inaccurate reference to Jones’ race.

Early voting results will be released at 7 p.m. on May 3, 2025. Scroll within the result embeds to see all races.

SAN ANTONIO – Find more election coverage on the Vote 2025 page.

SEARCH YOUR LOCAL RACES Find race results

UPDATE AT 12:20 P.M.:

Gina Ortiz Jones and Rolando Pablos are heading to a runoff for the San Antonio mayor’s seat.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Ortiz Jones led the race with 27.20% of the vote, while Rolando Pablos was in second with 16.61% of the vote. Since neither secured 50% of the vote, they will head to a runoff on June 7.

Beto Altamirano was in third with 12.05% of the vote, while Adriana Rocha Garcia sat in fourth with 9.89%.

Pablos, at a race watch party, recounted with KSAT’s Dillon Collier the sheer volume of work done by his campaign.

“This is a master class in political science. Twenty-seven candidates, (that is) never seen before. The way we stood out was talking about change and look (how) it worked out. And that’s exactly what people wanted is change,” he said.

Pablos said his team is ready for the runoff.

“We’ll work very hard. We’ll bring our coalition together,” Pablos said. “I think there are a lot of folks out there who are very pragmatic, and our message is the message that’s needed. Our team is excited. Our supporters are excited, so I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

Ortiz Jones, meanwhile, in a brief first appearance, told KSAT and other media outlets that “we’re not done working.”

“We know we’ve got some really hard work … we’ll continue to be working hard,” she said.

She did not answer any follow-up questions from KSAT or the rest of the media outside.

Jones and her team also locked the doors to their campaign party, even waving to reporters outside.

Gina Ortiz Jones, who only spoke to the media once during the Saturday election, smiled and waved to media outside her campaign headquarters. Ortiz Jones will face Rolando Pablos in a June 7 runoff election for San Antonio mayor. (KSAT)

Pablos, in an emailed statement on Saturday night, bluntly said San Antonio is ready for a change in its government.

“The fact that no sitting city council member finished in the top three positions tonight is a clear sign that San Antonio voters are sick of business as usual, and are ready to get down to business to secure a more prosperous future for our children and grandchildren,” Pablos said.

Bexar County had a 7.81% voter turnout in the May 3 election, according to the Bexar County Elections Department. Out of 1,257,459 registered voters in Bexar County, 20,201 voted on Election Day and 74,238 cast a ballot during early voting. Another 3,751 were absentee ballots.

Compared to the last city election in 2023, Bexar County saw a 15.34% voter turnout.

The election is nonpartisan, meaning candidates are not affiliated with political parties.

BACKGROUND

San Antonians will elect a new mayor in the May 3 election.

The election is nonpartisan, meaning candidates are not affiliated with political parties.

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote on May 3, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff on June 7. And with a whopping 27 candidates, that’s all but inevitable.

Among the candidates, five current or former city council members; Manny Pelaez, Melissa Cabello Havrda, Adriana Rocha Garcia, John Courage and former Councilman Clayton Perry. Pelaez and Courage will be reaching the end of their term limits. Garcia and Havrda could serve another two years as council members, but they decided to take their shot now.

Of the other 22 candidates, most have never sought election to public office. Some have worked in government — in unelected positions — at the local, state or federal level. Others have held (or hold) high-level positions in the private sector. And the rest are regular, everyday San Antonians who want to serve their city with no political experience at all.

Meet The Candidates

Here’s a quick look at the people who would be mayor (in ballot order):

WATCH: San Antonio mayor’s race: Meet the candidates interviewed in KSAT’s ’3 Questions’ series

Rolando Pablos, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Rolando Pablos is a former Texas secretary of state and Texas Public Utility commissioner. He is a graduate from UTSA and St. Mary’s School of Law. He currently works with Cross-National Advisory Partners, an advisory firm that guides and assists government agencies with business in foreign markets. This is the first time he has sought elected office.

Sonia Traut, Mayoral candidate (KSAT)

Sonia Traut is a retired Air Force veteran. A self-proclaimed non-politician, Traut does not have a campaign website or social media dedicated to the campaign. She did not respond to an invitation to take part in KSAT’s 3 questions for the mayoral candidates.

Robert Melvin, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Attorney Robert Melvin is CEO of Limitless Creations, LLC. He is a real estate developer. Melvin is a former president of San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside.

Christopher Reyes, 3 Questions (KSAT)

U.S. Army veteran Christopher Reyes says he’s running for mayor because he didn’t want to complain about the city’s problems when he could do something instead. Reyes told KSAT the single most important issue is transparency, saying that too many things are decided behind closed doors, then brought to the public after “everything has been taken care of.” Reyes has never run for public office, and says he doesn’t want to start a career, but he believes his lived and work experience in the military and his career will help him do the job.

Jade McCullough (KSAT)

Jade McCullough says her top issue is affordable housing. She decided to run after her apartment abruptly ended her lease, making her homeless. Though her political experience is limited, she says she gained insight into how the city and government run when she worked with District 2. McCullough is small business owner, born and raised in San Antonio.

Brandon Gonzales (KSAT)

Brandon Gonzales isn’t in the race to win it. The granite polisher and manufacturer says he is running to expose the “phony characters” in the political system. Gonzales doesn’t have a campaign website or social media. Homelessness, illegal immigration and “never-ending construction” are what he sees as the biggest issues in San Antonio. This is his first time running for any office.

Tim Westley, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Tim Westley ran for Texas Land Commissioner in 2022 as a Republican. He lost in the primary to eventual winner Dawn Buckingham. He’s an Army veteran who was stationed at Fort Sam Houston. He has worked as a college professor, pastor, writer and a teacher. He says his number one priority is economic development.

Manny Pelaez, 3 Questions (KSAT)

District 8 city council member Manny Pelaez is finishing up his final term on the council. He has also served on VIA Metropolitan Transit, the Metropolitan Planning Organization and Advanced Transportation District Boards. He attended Trinity University and St. Mary’s School of Law. Pelaez says he wants San Antonio to be the safest, smartest and strongest city. He says his experience with Toyota, Brooks City Base and VIA makes him the best candidate.

Bill Ruppel, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Bill Ruppel has wanted to run for mayor for a while but couldn’t for personal reasons. He told KSAT that he is now ready to do something that he’s always wanted to do. Citizen safety is his top issue. Ruppel, a former insurance adjustor at USAA, says that job taught him to listen to, work with and help people at all levels and prepared him to help address the challenges of leading the Alamo City.

Armando Dominguez, 3 Questions (KSAT)

This is the second time Armando Dominguez has run for mayor. His first bid came two years ago, joining a field of eight challengers trying to unseat current mayor Ron Nirenberg. Dominguez says homelessness and allocation of funds are two of the top things that the city needs to address.

Adriana Rocha Garcia, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Adriana Rocha Garcia, who has served as the District 4 council member since 2019, was born and raised in San Antonio. Outside her work on the council, she is an assistant professor of marketing at Our Lady of the Lake University. Garcia also serves on several boards, committees and commissions. Affordable housing and fiscal responsibility are among Garcia’s primary focuses.

Gina Ortiz Jones, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Air Force Veteran Gina Ortiz Jones’ career has taken her from the Alamo City around the world, serving in the Iraq War and as Undersecretary of the Air Force in Washington, D.C. Jones made two unsuccessful bids for Congressional District 23 in 2018 and 2020. Affordable housing and public education are among her top priorities.

Diana Flores Uriegas, Mayoral candidate (KSAT)

Diana Flores Uriegas, who made unsuccessful runs for City Council’s District 3, describes herself as a housewife. The Bexar County Green Party describes her as “an indigenous activist who has a long history of fighting for poor and working class people, a Southsider who will represent poor people at city hall.”

Clayton Perry, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Former District 10 city council member Clayton Perry left under the cloud of a drunk-driving crash in his third term in office in 2023, opting not to run for reelection. He told KSAT he is running for mayor because he missed being on the council and he believes he has the experience to lead San Antonio. Perry retired after more than 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. Crime is the issue that Perry says he is hearing most about from the people of San Antonio.

John Courage, 3 Questions (KSAT)

City Councilman John Courage is wrapping up his final term representing District 9. The U.S. Air Force veteran and former school teacher was the first to enter the mayoral race last year. He dropped out due to health reasons and jumped back in the last day of candidate filing. He said his decision to run was based on concerns that money from outside the city and state was backing other candidates. Courage says his biggest concern is how what’s happening in Washington could impact San Antonio. Public safety and affordable housing were also high on the list.

Cristopher Herring – 3 Questions (KSAT)

Chris Herring is a U.S. Air Force veteran who lists “digital creator” on his personal Facebook page. He also serves as the Executive Director of Global Chamber San Antonio. He says support for San Antonio businesses, public safety/criminal justice reform and education/workforce development are the primary platforms for his campaign.

James “Jae” Melvin, 3 Questions (KSAT)

James “Jae” Melvin says he has been getting requests to run for mayor for the last couple of years. He told KSAT he did his homework before jumping into the race. According to his website, he is a Navy veteran and former union president. He lists “construction liaison” as his occupation. He lists education, the power grid and crime rates are priorities and says his whole platform is about giving power back to the people.

Andrew Fernandez Vicencio, Mayoral candidate (KSAT)

Andrew Fernandez Vicencio has been a candidate in two other races prior to this year’s municipal election: in 2021 for the city council, District 2 seat, and in 2020 he sought the Republican nomination for state Rep., District 120. He retired from the U.S. Army and is a graduate of UTSA and McArthur High School. His listed campaign goals include growing SAPD and modifying the road construction projects schedule.

G Zambrano, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Engineer Gerardo Zambrano (G Zambrano on the ballot) is a graduate of Texas A&M who moved to San Antonio 40+ years ago. He says he wants to freeze property taxes, freeze moving of stadiums and raise the minimum wage. He says a major motivation for entering the race was seeing one of the best tourist places in America turn into a city with construction and trash everywhere.

Arturo Espinosa (KSAT)

Arturo Espinosa was one of two challengers in 2023 who ran against incumbent Teri Castillo for the District 5 city council seat. Castillo won re-election. His application lists his occupation as a chemical engineer.

April Guadarrama, Mayoral candidate (KSAT)

First-time campaigner April Guadarrama is a U.S. Navy veteran, small business owner and former insurance agent. Vicious dogs, ACS reform, crime and affordable housing are among her priority issues.

Michael Samaniego, 3 Questions (KSAT)

This is Michael “Sam” Samaniego second run for the city’s top job. His first run was in 2023, where he finished fourth. The U.S. Air Force veteran says he was called to run, though he was not looking for a political career. Lack of transparency and crime are among his top priorities.

Beto Altamirano, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Beto Altamirano is a first-time candidate for political office of any kind. CEO & co-founder Irys Technologies, which developed the City of San Antonio 311 App, among other technological tools. He says he chose to run to give back to the city he has chosen to call home. He points to his experience working with the Texas House and U.S. Senate and was endorsed by former Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff.

Robert Salinas, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Auto repair shop owner Robert Salinas says rising property values motivated him to get in the race. He recognizes the city has issues that need to be addressed as well, but the first thing he wants to tackle is property values.

Melissa Cabello Havrda, 3 Questions (KSAT)

District 6 council member Melissa Cabello Havrda is another member of the council looking to move up to the mayor’s seat. She has two more years of eligibility as a council member, but like colleague Adriana Rocha Garcia, she’s seizing the opportunity and running now. Havrda is a lawyer and realtor who graduated from St. Mary’s and UTSA. She told KSAT she is running on three pillars: City Hall should work for you; people should feel safe in their neighborhoods; bring opportunities home.

Mau Sanchez, 3 Questions (KSAT)

Mauricio “Mau” Sanchez spent time in New York and Austin working in the finance world before coming back home to San Antonio. Sanchez is a graduate of University of Incarnate Word with a degree in economics and finance, and the founder and Chief Investment Officer at Portfolio Capital. The Clark High School grad has never sought political office before, but says political experience is not going to fix what he sees as the problems here: Household income, public safety, animal care and homelessness.

Santos Alvarado, 3 Questions (KSAT)

San Antonio is home to Santos Alvarado but his military career and work for the government took him all over the world. He told KSAT when he came home and he didn’t like what he saw in his city. Wants to give the city back to the voters. Homeless, animal control and affordable housing are priority issues for Alvarado.

Elections More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter Email Address Sign Me Up

More election coverage from KSAT: