San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Board is set for city’s elections in May
The slate of candidates for San Antonio mayor and the city’s 10 council seats on the May 1 ballot is set.
After Friday’s deadline for filing, city records showed 81 people are running for a spot on the City Council in a race defined by the human and economic toll inflicted on the city by COVID-19 as well as a reckoning over the power of the San Antonio Police union in the wake of a public demand for law enforcement reform.
The main event is the rematch between incumbent Ron Nirenberg and former City Councilman Greg Brockhouse, who fought the mayor to a runoff two years ago and nearly ousted him.
Here’s a breakdown of candidates in each race. Ages and occupations are listed for those that were available on the filing documents.
Mayor
Nirenberg is vying for a third term amid high marks for his response to the pandemic and after notching his most decisive electoral victory to date: the November passage of a $154 million sales tax plan aimed at helping tens of thousands of residents get job training and college degrees in order to land higher-paying jobs.
But Brockhouse once again sees vulnerability in the mayor — blasting Nirenberg for focusing too much on long-term goals instead of immediate recovery efforts. He’s also betting on a wave of pro-police voters to turn out in force to oppose a ballot measure
to repeal the police union’s collective bargaining rights to help him cross the finish line.
Nirenberg and Brockhouse aren’t alone in the race; 12 other candidates also have filed for mayor: Ray Basaldua, 48, roofer; attorney Frank Adam Muñiz, attorney; teacher Tim Atwood, 67; businesswoman Denise Gutierrez-Homer; retired teacher Gary Allen; J. L. Miller, military; Michael “Commander” Idrogo, 60, veteran U.S. Navy commander; Antonio “Tony” Diaz, retail; retiree Dan Martinez; Justin Macaluso, director of quality and manufacturing; Joshua James Galvan, self-employed; and John M. Velasquez, psychologist
District 1
Councilman Roberto Treviño has held his downtown seat since 2014, when Diego Bernal left to run for the Texas House. Treviño faces a field of five other candidates as he seeks his final council term — including environmentalist Mario Bravo, who says his candidacy is less about dissatisfaction with Treviño’s job performance than it is about pushing for structural change at City Hall.
During the pandemic, Treviño has positioned himself as an oftenlonely progressive agitator on the council pushing city leaders to pony up more dollars to help residents struggling to stay in their homes and small businesses trying to keep their lights on — something his detractors say the city has been doing anyway.
He was one of two council members to oppose the mayor’s workforce development plan.
In addition to Treviño and Bravo, the other candidates in the race are retiree Raymond Zavala, environmental consultant Matthew J. Gauna, attorney Lauro A. Bustamante and financial professional Cyndi Dóminguez.
District 2
Seeking another two years in her East Side seat, Councilwoman Jada Andrews-Sullivan faces 11 other candidates — including her former communications director, 25year-old Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, a math teacher at James Madison High School.
Also on the ballot are Black Lives Matter organizer Pharaoh Clark, 33; Kristi Villanueva, 48, president of the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce; Dori Brown, a 51-year-old former aide to the late state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon; community activist and business owner Nneka Cleaver, 46.
The five other candidates are Walter Perry Sr., tax preparer; Andrew Fernandez Vicencio, U.S. Army retired; Carl Booker, publisher; educator Norris Tyrone Darden; business owner Chris Dawkins; and Michael John Good, construction and logistics
District 3
This open seat vacated by Rebecca Viagran, who has reached her term limit, has drawn 12 candidates to represent the Southeast Side, one of the areas of town hit hardest by the pandemic. But so far it’s looking like a showdown between a possible new South Side political dynasty and one seeking redemption.
Phyllis Viagran, 48, is vying to replace her sister — outgoing Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran, who has termed out. Meanwhile, the Uresti dynasty is attempting another comeback as former state Rep. Tomas Uresti, brother of imprisoned former state Sen. Carlos Uresti, takes a shot at the seat.
The other 10 candidates are: Angela Cardona, executive assistant and community relations; Marcello Martinez, architect; Stephen “Steve” Valdez, communications; Ted Gonzalez, sales manager; Walter Murray, advertising business owner; Rodolfo “Rudy” Lopez, self-employed; and Rafael C. Vela, Mark Arthur Vargas Jr., Diana Flores Uriegas and Katherine Herrera, whose occupations weren’t listed.
District 4
District 5
Adriana Rocha Garcia, the first woman to represent this Southwest Side district and a key ally on Nirenberg’s Ready to Work initiative, is seeking a second term.
The assistant professor of marketing for Our Lady of the Lake University faces mathematician Raymond Guzman, business owner David Tristan and Curtis Mueller, who works in information technology.
It’s open season for the West Side seat as Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales terms out. Eleven candidates are running to represent the district — one of the hardest hit by the pandemic
Among the hopefuls are Jason Mata, 48, who sits on boards for various nonprofits; housing activist Teri Castillo of the Historic Westside Residents Association; and Norberto “Geremy” Landin, vice president of operations and business development for San Antonio South Texas Allergy and Asthma Medical Professionals.
Other candidates include: Irma G. Barron, self-employed; Marie Crabb, 34, real estate agent; Ricardo Moreno, 35, assistant principal; Anthony Gres, business owner; attorney David Yañez; and retirees Ray Garza, Jesse J. Alaniz and Rudy Lopez.
District 6
Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda, 46, who chairs the council’s Public Safety committee, faces four challengers as she seeks a second term for the Far West Side seat: Robert Walker, the owner of Papa’s Burgers; business owner Irina Rudolph; accountant and adjunct lecturer Chris Baecker; and housing liaison Robert Hernandez.
District 7
As the councilwoman for this West Side district since 2017, incumbent Ana E. Sandoval has one competitor this election: Patricia Ann Varela, who is retired from the U.S. Army.
District 8
Councilman Manny Peláez — the council’s self-styled voice of reason without a filter — is running for a third term in his Northwest Side district. He’s facing self-employed Cesario Garcia, real estate broker Rob Rodriguez, pricing specialist Suzanne McCarty and registered nurse Tammy K. Orta.
District 9
Once a perennial Democratic candidate, Councilman John Courage, 69, has represented the traditionally conservative North Side district for two terms. He faces four candidates in his bid to hold the seat for another two years — among his challengers are two conservatives: Patrick Von Dohlen, the president of a financial group; and attorney Erika Moe, who is backed by a highpowered GOP consulting firm in Austin. The other challengers are business operations specialist Cory Dennington, 29, and college student Antonio Salinas, 18.
District 10
Nirenberg and Brockhouse aren’t the only ones in a rematch on the May ballot.
Clayton Perry, the council’s lone conservative, will once again face Ezra Johnson, vice chair of VIA Metropolitan Transit. Perry and Johnson vied for the open seat back in 2017, with Perry emerging victorious in a runoff.
The race will test whether Perry — who is tight with neighborhood groups in his Northeast Side district — is still in line with voters. The district broke for President Joe Biden in November as well as a trio of ballot initiatives Perry opposed.
A bright spot for Perry: A majority of voters in his district went for down-ballot Republicans.
The other challengers are 32year-old educator Alexander Svehla, Emily Norwood and U.S. Army officer Gabrien Gregory.
Southern states including Texas will be especially vulnerable to partisan and racial gerrymandering due to single-party control over the process and weaker protections for communities of color, a new study has found.
The Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal public policy institute at New York University Law School, analyzed the redistricting landscape across the country, categorizing states based on their projected risk for partisan and/or racial gerrymandering. The 27-page report, released Thursday, found abuse in the mapmaking process will be most severe in four Republican-controlled Southern states: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas.
Meanwhile, every state is facing a shared challenge: a compressed timeline to draw the new maps.
Typically, population data needed for redistricting is released in April, but due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump administration, the Census Bureau is now expecting those figures to be ready in late September.
This will further complicate this year’s redistricting process, and therefore preparations for the 2022 midterms as well.
Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center who authored the report, said this round of redistricting is likely to be the most challenging in recent history.
The four factors that will have the largest impact on redistricting outcomes are: who controls map drawing, changes in rules governing redistricting, population and demographic changes over the last decade, and the delayed census data.
Republicans will have control over the mapmaking process in 21 states, while Democrats will be in charge in nine. Election maps in the remaining 20 states will be drawn by either a divided government or some type of redistricting commission.
“Expect a tale of two countries,” Li wrote. “In parts of the country, newly enacted reforms and divided government will make it harder to force through partisan gerrymanders or racially discriminatory maps. In other states, however, there may be even greater room for unfair processes and results than in 2011, when the country saw some of the most gerrymandered maps in its history.”
Among the four Southern states most at risk of gerrymandering, the report noted particular concern for communities of color.
While those states have grown more racially and politically diverse over the last decade, people of color will have fewer protections during this round of redistricting because certain states no longer need approval from the Justice Department to make voting-related changes.
In some states, recently created commissions will be driving the mapmaking process for the first time. Colorado and Michigan will use inaugural independent commissions to draw maps for Congress and the state legislature, while Virginia will employ a new bipartisan commission for its election maps.
New York and Utah will also have advisory commissions for the first time, although the proposals they present to the legislature will be nonbinding.