Whyte preps for council race, but will he run?
Marc Whyte has a campaign team lined up — a treasurer, campaign consultant, finance director and digital advertising firm.
And he’s preparing the paperwork to put $50,000 of his own money into a campaign account for a City Council race in San Antonio’s District 10.
The one thing he’s missing? A candidacy — that is, his decision to put his name on the May 6 ballot.
The filing deadline for the May 6 election is one week away, but Whyte said he would take the weekend to decide whether to run in the Northeast Side district — potentially against embattled incumbent Clayton Perry, who’s facing charges of drunken driving and fleeing the scene of an accident.
Whyte, 42, has the backing of several former District 10 councilmen, including Mike Gallagher, John Clamp and Carlton Soules. Word of his likely candidacy has been circulating in the district for weeks.
So, why is Whyte taking so long to decide?
“It’s a big decision,” he said. “It’s a big commitment for my family. I don’t see any reason to rush it. We’re gonna have some quality family time this weekend. I just want to take the time that we have to make sure everybody is on board, and we are ready to go. If we’re gonna do it, we’ll have the money in the bank and the team in place to hit the ground running.”
The $50,000 he said he’d put in his campaign fund would be a loan, not a contribution.
In November, Whyte initially said he would only run if Perry did not seek a fourth term in the May 6 election. Later, Whyte shifted to saying he was preparing to run even if Perry is in the race.
On Thursday, Perry, 67, said he hasn’t decided whether to run this spring.
“I don’t know whether he’s going to run or not, but I am confident that if he decides not to run, I think he would support us,” Whyte said. “But I really don’t know what he’s going to do.”
And at least one member of Perry’s campaign team plans to join Whyte this election cycle —
political fundraiser Norma Denham, according to Whyte. That is, if he decides to run. Denham was Perry’s finance director in his winning 2019 and 2021 campaigns.
Whyte’s campaign treasurer would be Eddie Aldrete of Aldrete Strategic Partners, a public affairs and communications consulting firm. Political consultant Christian Anderson would be his campaign manager. Whyte would use Austinbased Raconteur Media for digital advertising.
Perry appointed Whyte to the city’s Zoning Commission in 2019. (Whyte would have to step down from the commission to run for council.)
Also in 2019, Perry said he wanted Whyte to take his place on the council if he opted to step down to campaign for county commissioner in Precinct 3 in North Bexar County. Perry, however, decided to remain on the council.
Another one of Perry’s appointees is also running for the seat. Retired engineer Joel Solis filed Tuesday to run for the District 10 seat on City Council. Perry named Solis, 62, to the city’s Building Standards Board in December 2021.
District 10 had been the only seat without an official candidate for the May election before Solis filed.
Perry is accused of driving while intoxicated the night of Nov. 6 — of plowing his black Jeep Wrangler Rubicon into a Honda Civic sitting at a Northeast Side intersection and then fleeing the scene. Body-camera video of a San Antonio police officer who questioned Perry at his home later that night showed the councilman dazed, babbling and yet careful not to say he’d driven his vehicle that night.
The councilman was charged with leaving an accident scene without providing information on Nov. 10 and with DWI on Dec. 28 — both Class B misdemeanors. The driver of the Civic and a passenger weren’t injured in the accident.
Police say surveillance video at the Evil Olive bar and restaurant on Thousand Oaks Drive showed Perry downing 14 drinks in four hours the night of the accident.