Former U.S. Air Force Under Secretary Gina Ortiz Jones and former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos have made it through the chaotic group of 27 candidates to face off in a runoff for mayor of San Antonio. Ortiz Jones was a no-show for comments as she was busy at the Fiesta Flambeau parade during Election Night. She scooped up 27,483 votes, making up 27.20% of the vote. On the other hand, Pablos managed to secure 16.61% of the vote with 16,785 supporters backing him up.
“I think now that we got rid of the rest of the pack, I think we’ll have a lot of allies coming on board who, you know, are aligned with our message. So I’m very excited about that,” Pablos shared with his supporters at his Election Night watch party. Pablos is known for representing the Republican party at the state level, while Ortiz Jones has been associated with the Democratic party in past congressional races. Interestingly, both candidates raised a significant portion of their campaign funds from sources outside of San Antonio and Texas.
Although Ortiz Jones has consistently been at the top of the pack in terms of polling, Pablos seems unfazed and ready for the upcoming runoff. “We need to come together as a community, and now we’ll be that unifying force. We need to stop fighting,” he expressed. “We need to work towards those things that matter, like basic services, and put aside all the ideology, and finally, once and for all, do great things for San Antonio.”
Tech entrepreneur Beto Altamirano managed to gather 12,178 votes, translating to 12.05%, while District 4 Councilmember Adriana Rocha Garcia secured 9,992 votes, which is about 9.89%.
Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew mentioned in a press conference on Saturday afternoon that voter turnout was relatively low. The total voter turnout, including in-person votes on Saturday and early voting, stood at 9.26%. “With the turnout that it is, we feel like there’s a lot of overshadowing by other community events and Fiesta,” Carew commented.
San Antonio made history as the second largest city in America to hold a mayoral election on May 3, following Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s term limit. Early voting for the Ortiz Jones and Pablos runoff will kick off on May 27, with the final Election Day scheduled for June 7.
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