Gina Ortiz Jones leads tight San Antonio mayoral race, new UTSA poll shows

Former Under Secretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones has a narrow lead in the race to become San Antonio’s next mayor, according to a poll released Tuesday by the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Jones — who also ran a pair of near-miss races as a Democrat to represent Texas’ 23rd Congressional District — leads the pack with 9.3% of respondents saying she’s the mayoral candidate they’re “most likely to vote for,” according to the survey by UTSA’s Center for Public Opinion Research.

Despite temporarily suspending his campaign for two months, District 9 Councilman John Courage came in second with support from 7.9% of respondents. District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez followed at 5.5%.

UTSA’s poll is based on responses from more than 1,000 eligible Bexar County voters surveyed Feb. 17-20.

Despite the good news for Jones, the numbers show the race to replace termed-out Mayor Ron Nirenberg as wide open.

More than half of those polled said they didn’t know who they’re voting for or are unfamiliar with any of the 27 candidates on the May 3 mayoral ballot. That means candidates have plenty of time to sway voters.

Despite his campaign spending $143,000 between July 1 and Dec. 31, only 3.6% of respondents said they plan to vote for Beto Altamirano. The tech entrepreneur appeared to have early momentum in the race and recently landed the endorsement of former Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff.

The data wasn’t much better for former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, who, despite raising $133,000 for his campaign, was the favorite of fewer than 1% of survey respondents.

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This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2025.