» Challenger Becky Clay-Flores has the advantage over Commissioner Rodriguez.
Clay-Flores pulls ahead in likely upset; DeBerry leads
Political newcomer Rebeca “Becky” Clay-Flores was leading four-term incumbent Sergio “Chico” Rodriguez on Tuesday, signaling a likely upset in one of two hard-fought primary runoff races for Bexar County commissioner.
Clay-Flores, special project manager for the Metropolitan Health District, held a commanding lead in the Democratic runoff in Precinct 1, with about half the voting centers counted. Since he was first elected in 2004, Rodriguez has represented that precinct, which encompasses the county’s southern sector.
Clay-Flores, 44, had 60 percent of the results in early returns. It appeared to be a turnaround from the March 3 primary, in which Rodriguez received about 48 percent of the vote, while ClayFlores carried 43 percent. Another Democrat, Fred “Freddy” Mendoza, had about 9 percent in March.
Clay-Flores, who grew up in a low-income family and did her undergraduate work at Princeton University then earned a master’s degree in education from Harvard, has said she ran against Rodriguez because people on the South Side told her Rodriguez was not engaged with the neighborhoods and community groups.
Some of her friends tried to persuade her not to run against Rodriguez, brother of former congressman and current Justice of the Peace Ciro Rodriguez.
“No one, not one single person, told me, ‘He’s doing a great job,’ ” Clay-Flores, a Brackenridge High School graduate, told the Express-News earlier this year.
In appearances with community groups, she has advocated for improving delivery of mental health services and breaking cycles of generational poverty.
“I don’t think there was one knockout punch. We worked endlessly” since the primary,
Clay-Flores said late Tuesday, attempting to explain her lead. “We knew that our community deserved better. I was tired of this part of town being left behind.”
Calls to Rodriguez for comment were not returned.
On his campaign website, Rodriguez vowed to work on “transportation and infrastructure needs,” public safety, and assistance for seniors and veterans. A former City Public Service electrical lineman and Bexar County sheriff’s deputy, he has served on numerous boards related to housing and transportation.
The winner of the runoff faces a Republican candidate, Gabriel Lara, a retiree, in the Nov. 3 general election. Lara was unopposed for the GOP nomination.
If elected in November, Clay-Flores, who identifies as Hispanic and Black, would be the first woman of color on the Commissioners Court, which is comprised of the county judge and four commissioners.
In another hotly contested race for commissioner, in Precinct 3 on the North Side, Trish DeBerry, CEO and president of The DeBerry Group, a public relations firm, held 55 percent of the vote in a runoff with retired judge Tom Rickhoff, with Tuesday’s votes still being counted.
DeBerry, who ran for San Antonio mayor in 2009, has spoken in favor of term limits for county commissioners; campaign finance reform; election of members of the Bexar Appraisal District board; and city-county consolidation in such areas as economic development and public works.
DeBerry, 55, said her campaign shifted to social digital strategy during the pandemic and focused her campaign website on ways to help the community, through public health messaging and volunteer work, such as food bank support and blood donation.
“Things have got to change at the county. They’ve been the same for a very, very long time,” she said Tuesday night. “We’ve got to take a hard look at bringing accountability back to Commissioners Court.”
Rickhoff, 75, has been critical of the county’s history of using debt to fund capital projects, including widening of San Pedro Creek downtown for beautification and flood control. In comments Tuesday, he spoke of four areas of concern: campaign funding and ethics; accrued debt that he said will force the county to “cut essential services” because of the pandemic; and aquifer protection, which he believes should continue through extension of a 1/8-cent per dollar sales tax.
DeBerry or Rickhoff will face Christine Hortick, a Democrat and San Antonio lawyer who defeated two other candidates in March. Hortick, 41, is a lawyer from San Antonio whose practice represents children and parents in Bexar County Children’s Court.
The runoff results indicate a high likelihood that Commissioners Court will seat at least one woman — its first female member in more than 20 years, and possibly just its third overall, at the start of 2021. Cyndi Taylor Krier was as Bexar County judge from 1992 to 2001. Helen Dutmer was a Precinct 4 county commissioner from 1991 to 1994.