The biggest winners and losers of San Antonio’s weekend election

After Saturday’s expensive but low-turnout municipal election, former Under Secretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones and one-time Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos are heading into a June 7 runoff to become San Antonio’s next mayor.

While the frontrunners in the mayoral race hogged the spotlight, there was no shortage of drama elsewhere. Some campaigns threw around lots of cash but received little enthusiasm from voters. Conversely, others spent modestly yet punched above their weight.

The race marked the first time since 2009 that a mayoral incumbent wasn’t on the ballot and the first time since 2005 that the new mayor won’t be someone who served on City Council. And that’s despite four current council members and one former member of the dais vying for the city’s top elected position.

Multiple City Council races also held surprises, and most of those that didn’t include an incumbent are headed to a runoff.

That said, here are the election’s biggest winners and losers:

Winners:

City Hall Outsiders

Despite the number of current former council members on the ballot, the three top vote-getters were all from outside City Hall.

The highly unusual outcome may have something to do with low voter turnout, since just 9.26% of registered Bexar County voters cast ballots. Policical analysts warned that a combination of Fiesta, fatigue from the November election and voters being overwhelmed by 27 candidates might result in abysmal turnout. Turns out they were right.

The other factor was outside money.

Indeed, Pablos, Ortiz and tech bro Beto Altamirano – the top three finishers – spent a combined $1.2 million on their campaigns, raising funds through individual donors, personal loans and political action committees, or PACs.

That’s roughly double the aggregate amount raised by District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia, District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda, District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez, District 9 Councilman John Courage and former District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry.

District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia

Despite spending just $60,000 on her campaign, Rocha Garcia – who represents Southwest San Antonio — came in fourth place in Saturday’s election with nearly 10% of the vote. That’s more than any other City Hall insider, and it happened despite a lack of flashy ads.

Instead, Rocha Garcia’s campaign relied heavily on grassroots organizing efforts, which appeared to work in her district, where she remains popular with voters.

Partisanship

Although San Antonio municipal elections are nonpartisan, the nation’s polarized political landscape seemed to affect the municipal contest in a big way.

Jones, a two-time Democratic congressional hopeful and a Biden White House appointee, was backed by the Washington, D.C.-based Field of Change PAC, which funds blue candidates nationally. A queer woman of color, she also received cash from the pro-LGBTQIA+  Human Rights Campaign PAC.

Jones is the only mayoral candidate to get the majority of her funding from outside Texas, according the latest campaign filings.

Meanwhile, Pablos — a former Gov. Greg Abbott appointee deeply involved in state-level GOP politics — is backed by the Texas Economic Fund, a right-wing PAC that donates to local campaigns that align with conservative interests.

Even three of the council races heading to a runoff — District 1, District 8 and District 9 — are between openly progressive and conservative candidates.

Losers:

District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez

Despite getting more than $100,000 in dark money from the recently formed nonprofit San Antonio for Everyone and loaning  more than $300,000 of his own money to his campaign, the termed-out Pelaez came in fifth place with a meager 7.31% of the vote.

Pelaez aired TV spots, hired veteran campaign firm VIVA Politics and pulled in car dealer-social media personality April Ancira as treasurer. Hell, he even posted a video of himself with kittens.

However, Pelaez’s pro-business message was likely overshadowed by that of Pablos. Meanwhile, the councilman struck out with progressive voters by hanging up signs in his district implying homeless people are drug addicts and voting against San Antonio’s Reproductive Justice Fund.

District 1 Council candidate Julisa Medrano-Guerra

Speaking of big spenders, political novice Julisa Medrano-Guerra fizzled in her bid to replace first-term District 1 incumbent Councilwoman Sukh Kaur.

Despite pouring nearly $60,000 into her campaign — including a $29,00 personal loan — Medrano-Guerra came away with just 6% of the vote.

Medrano-Guerra’s campaign was characterized by mud-slinging and scorched earth tactics, including publicizing Kaur’s decades-old DWI arrest, accusing her rival of lying about her work history and filing an ethics complaint against the incumbent.

Longtime political consultant Kelton Morgan told the Current the aggressive campaign didn’t allow voters to know who Medrano-Guerra was beyond her propensity for political attacks.

“That’s how she defined herself: angry, wild, swinging and throwing all the mud she could get her hands on,” Morgan said. “That’s the first thing anybody ever knew about her.”

Voter turnout

Local elections usually produce lower voter turnout — it’s just the way they are. However, this year’s turnout was the worst for a local election since 2013, when only 7.6% of registered voters cast ballots.

Blame it on Fiesta, blame it on the ridiculous number of candidates, or hell, blame it on Trump. But, in a world where only 29 nations are considered liberal democracies, it seems like San Antonians should better understand that having the right to choose who represents them at City Hall is a real privilege not a burden.

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This article appears in Apr 30 – May 13, 2025.