This week, a new stage in the race for San Antonio mayor begins. The field of 14 is now down to two: incumbent Mayor Ivy Taylor who captured 42 percent of the Saturday vote, and District 8 Councilman Ron Nirenberg with 37 percent.
Check out video profiles of both candidates below.
Taylor To Campaign On Her Experience
By Joey Palacios
Mayor Taylor was surrounded by supporters Saturday night following her lead in the early vote.
“We fought hard in this election. We fended off more than our share of falsehoods and half-truths, but we stayed positive and focused on San Antonio’s future,” she said.
Taylor captured more votes than District 8 Councilman Ron Nirenberg, but not enough to avoid a runoff with him.
Taylor says her experience will help earn her another term from voters.
“With the race now down to two of us, our record of accomplishment and leadership will shine even more,” she said. "A track record of delivering for the citizens of San Antonio. Not shying away from making the tough decisions. I’ve been able to bring council members together to deliver the votes needed to make those tough choices.”
Taylor says one of her major accomplishments in her first term was securing a contract between the City and police. It’s a contract that Nirenberg voted against. He claims it will financially strain the city. San Antonio Police Officers Association President Mike Helle made an appearance at Taylor's Saturday election party and says his organization endorsement may go to Taylor.
“it’s a strong possibility. It’s a strong lead towards her,” Helle said.
Thirteen other candidates competed against Taylor and Nirenberg, but with runoff election set for June 10, the real race to lead San Antonio begins now.
Nirenberg Says San Antonio Needs A Change In Leadership
By David Martin Davies
It was a celebration Saturday night at Nirenberg campaign headquarters on Broadway across from Maverick Park.
Many of his supporters were enjoying their candidate's strong second place finish, which propelled him into a runoff with Taylor.
Nirenberg mixed with the crowd and was drafted for multiple selfies. It's this kind of personal one-on-one contact with voters that may have made the difference for his race.
“Every day that this campaign went on we were working twice has hard as the competition and ultimately in a field of 14 against an incumbent, that we would likely have to go to a runoff and it’s playing out exactly how we wanted to execute the plan,” he said.
Because two candidates are also competing in a runoff race to succeed Nirenberg in District 8, he will continue representing the district at council meetings through June 10. Nirenberg says he won’t let the runoff with Taylor disrupt the workings of the council.
“There has been a lot of politics to navigate from the mayor’s office on various issues – the barge being one of them – and they can expect nothing but ethical leadership from my office and I hope we can expect the same from the mayor,” he said.
Nirenberg said he is not changing his campaign strategy for the run-off. He plans to continue to build a case for change in the mayor’s office.
