Gina Ortiz Jones speaks to the press during her mayoral campaign. Credit: Facebook / Gina Ortiz Jones

In an unusual move, Mayor-elect Gina Ortiz Jones has tapped her former campaign director, who has no previous experience in San Antonio politics, to be her chief of staff.

Jordan Abelson, who ran Jones’ successful election campaign, has only lived in the Alamo City since February, when she relocated from out of state to assist the former U.S. Under Secretary of the Air Force on her mayoral run. While Jones ran for Congress twice to represent a seat that included portions of San Antonio, she also arrives in her new role with a dearth of City Hall experience.

“Other than choosing a city manager, choosing a chief of staff is the most important hiring decision a mayor makes,”  University of Texas at San Antonio political science professor Jon Taylor said. “You would think [Jones] would find somebody who at least has some ties or experience in San Antonio — or, at least Texas. I just wonder how difficult this path is going to be for her given she has no local or state experience.”

Raising the bar, Jones will enter office facing a number of complex challenges including dealing with a $150 million city budget deficit and figuring out how to proceed with Project Marvel, a controversial $4 billion plan to develop a downtown sports-and-entertainment district that would include a new Spurs arena and other moving parts.

Abelson landed in Jones’ camp after running a failed Democratic congressional campaign in Montana. Before that, she served as a communications director for a county commissioner representing an area outside Philadelphia.

Abelson attended Bucks County Community College before transferring to Gwynedd Mercy University, a small, regional liberal arts school in Pennsylvania not far from where she grew up. She also holds a master’s of public health from Brown University.

“My original career was in biology, but I saw the relationship between health and politics and the need to elect people who believe in science and progress,” Abelson told the Current via text message.

Abelson also confirmed that she’s never worked in Texas or San Antonio politics before serving as Jones’ campaign manager. She didn’t offer specifics on how she ended up in the role.

“I got here because I believed in Gina Ortiz Jones and her vision for San Antonio,” Abelson said.

Despite what some saw as early campaign missteps, including a media blackout on the night of May’s general election, Jones defeated Republican rival Rolando Pablos by an 8-point margin in last Saturday’s runoff.

“As an outsider, you might have a different perspective, fresh ideas and a fresh mind. That’s maybe why [Abelson] was selected,” UTSA’s Taylor said. “I just worry about a person like Jones who does not have the experience in managing a city hiring a chief of staff who doesn’t have experience dealing with the nuts and bolts issues behind the scenes that a mayor has to deal with.”

Jones will be sworn in June 18 at City Hall.

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This article appears in May 29 – Jun 11, 2025.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...