San Antonio – With a crowd of candidates already jostling to snag San Antonio’s open mayor seat, the race is about to begin in earnest.
The filing period for the mayor and all 10 City Council races opens at 8 a.m. Wednesday and will run through Feb. 14. The election will be held Saturday, May 3, which will align with the end of the city’s Fiesta celebrations.
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The stakes are higher than in previous elections. Terms are now four years instead of two, and the salaries for the mayor and council are set to jump to $87,800 and $70,200, respectively, according to changes voters approved in November.
The mayor’s race is already looking especially competitive, with Mayor Ron Nirenberg leaving office in June due to term limits. It will be the first mayor’s race without an incumbent since 2009, when Phil Hardberger left office under a then-two-term limit
As of Tuesday, 20 people had appointed a campaign treasurer for a mayoral campaign- a requirement before they can begin raising money.
It’s not clear how many will follow through by officially filing to run. Councilman John Courage (D9), for example, was the first of those 20 to announce his candidacy, but has since dropped out.
The other 19 hopefuls include Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4), Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6), Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8), former District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry, tech entrepreneur Beto Altamirano, former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, and two-time congressional candidate Gina Ortiz Jones.
It will likely be an expensive endeavor. Campaign consultant Kelton Morgan told KSAT it could take more than $500,000 for a candidate to simply make it to a two-way, June 7 runoff election.
Going to that head-to-head race would require an even larger fundraising and spending push, Morgan said in December — “close to $1 million a piece.”
“I think between $1.25 million and $1.5 million to be truly competitive,” he said of the total cost. “You’re going to have a lot of people say, ‘Oh, well I don’t need that. I have this. I have ideas. (I’m) a councilperson. I have all these other things.’ But really, in the end, that doesn’t necessarily add up."
Campaign finance reports for the second half of 2024 are due Wednesday and should give a better glimpse at how successful candidates have been at raising money.
There will also be four open seats on the City Council.
Courage will be leaving anyway because of eight-year term limits, as is Pelaez.
Rocha Garcia and Cabello Havrda could have run for partial council terms, but their choice to run for mayor instead leaves their seats open.
Five of the other six council seats have at least one challenger lining up for a shot at an incumbent, based on campaign treasurer appointments. As of Tuesday evening, only Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5) appeared to be running unopposed.