SAN ANTONIO – Five races across San Antonio will have runoff elections, including the highly anticipated race to succeed Ron Nirenberg as mayor.
Gina Ortiz Jones earned 27.2% of the vote, while Rolando Pablos received 16.6%, placing second among 27 contenders for mayor. Jones and Pablos will face off in a June 7 election, but until then, their campaigns will continue.
>> What happened in the San Antonio mayor, City Council election on May 3, 2025
“We have a tremendous poverty problem,” Pablos said. “I believe that a lot of the ills that we have today, like crime and homelessness are rooted in poverty. So, we need to once and for all make a decision that as a community, we need to address poverty.”
“Making sure we are focused and using data to make smart investments where we must and certainly bringing more transparency to how city dollars are being spent in our community – those are the things that are top of mind,” Jones said.
Jones gained additional traction online Saturday evening after leaving her watch party for Fiesta without taking questions from reporters on the way out.
KSAT’s Garrett Brnger attempted to ask Jones questions after she delivered a brief speech about the results. However, she turned around and returned to her watch party, where media was not allowed.
Brnger later tried to ask questions again but was told Jones was heading out to enjoy Fiesta.
In a separate interview with Jones on Sunday following election night, KSAT reporter Zaria Oates asked her about transparency and the social media conversation regarding how to reach her after the election.
“I was very excited to work with my team, and again, they’ve worked so hard, and we were proud to celebrate the moment together,” Jones said. “Once the results had come in, a little bit delayed, as we understand, we were proud to celebrate that as a team.”
KSAT asked both Pablos and Jones about transparency with the press and voters moving forward.
“We included the media, we are perfectly transparent with our community,” Pablos said.
“I would think any question that I’ve been asked, I’ve answered,” Jones said.
KSAT also asked how each candidate differs from the other.
“Our personalities, our ideology, couldn’t be more different,” Pablos said. “Gina Ortiz is someone who does not represent the values of San Antonio, and our campaign does, and we believe that the people of San Antonio will see that.”
“I think I have the most leadership and management experience in this race,” Jones said. “As the former Under Secretary of the Air Force, I led 600,000 people, managed $173 billion budget, so I look forward to bringing that service and leadership to our community.”
In addition to the mayoral race, runoff elections will also take place for four district races: District 1, District 6, District 8, and District 9. According to the Bexar County Elections Office on Sunday, May 4, there may also be a request to recount votes in District 6.
Michele Carew, the Bexar County Election Administrator, led her first-ever election for the county and set a record, with 100% of votes counted by 10:33 p.m., marking the quickest vote count in county history for the May 2025 election, according to the county.
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