SAN ANTONIO – Five candidates vying to fill the empty District 123 seat in the state House of Representatives gathered at a community forum roughly one hour after the filing deadline Monday evening.
The tight turnaround is fitting for this race, which will be decided with little time to campaign after former District 123 Rep. Mike Villareal vacated his seat to run for mayor of San Antonio.
Election Day is Jan. 6.
Three Democrats, one Republican and one member of the Green Party attended the forum hosted by the Alamo City Black Chamber of Commerce, Alamo Asian American Chamber, San Antonio LGBT Chamber, South San Antonio Chamber and West San Antonio Chamber.
Many of the candidates agreed public education is a pressing issue for the district, which spans downtown San Antonio, parts of the South Side, West Side and north central, including the city of Castle Hills.
"Among the highest is public education and securing adequate funding for higher education here in San Antonio," said candidate Walter Martinez, a Democrat who served one term in the House of Representatives in 1983.
Martinez also served on the San Antonio City Council from 1985 to 1992 and as the chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party in 1996. He touts his work on affordable housing in the public and private sector.
Fellow Democrat Melissa Aguillon, owner of local public relations firm Aguillon & Associates, wants to also tackle the issue of affordable education.
"Starting with with pre-k," said Aguillon. "Making sure all students have access to that. All students. And if you want to obtain a four-year degree, that should be accessible no matter what your stature is."
The most recent in office, former District 1 City Councilman Diego Bernal, says the issues facing District 123 are not new to him as he hopes to curb the high number of uninsured residents and predatory lending.
"On council, I went after pay day lenders pretty aggressively, but we couldn't do as much as we wanted to because its really a state fix," Bernal said. "I'd like to go to the state and work on that as well."
Nunzio Previtera, a small business owner in the insurance industry and the lone Republican at the forum, wants to focus on workforce development and advocating for seniors.
He has worked with the Republican Party for the last eight years.
"I can take the message to Austin. I already have relationships with Gov.-elect (Greg) Abbott," he said. "I have relationships with Lt. Gov.-elect (Dan) Patrick. I've worked very closely with Joe Straus."
Among other issues, Previtera wants to combat increasing taxes on senior citizens.
Representing the Green Party, Paul Ingmundson previously ran and lost to Villareal in District 123, but he's hoping for another shot at change -- specifically, climate change.
"Climate change is a catastrophe that's unfolding in real time right now," said the clinical psychologist. "We need to develop policies to address this problem."
He, too, wants to address the lack of funding for public education within the district.
Roger Gary, running as a Libertarian, was not part of Monday's forum.
A sample ballot will be available on Bexar County Elections office website beginning Tuesday.