Election results: San Antonio City Council will have its first openly gay man; two incumbents ousted – San Antonio Express-News

District 1

In the fight to represent the city’s urban core, challenger Mario Bravo ousted District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño and denied the third-term councilman a fourth and final term.

Bravo, an environmental activist and project manager for the Environmental Defense Fund, grabbed 54 percent of the vote while Treviño had 46 percent.

Treviño did not concede Saturday despite being down more than 7 points against Bravo. Treviño left his watch party at The Lonesome Rose, a country bar on the St. Mary’s Strip, without addressing attendees. He’s expected to give a statement Sunday morning, spokeswoman Lawson Picasso said.

At Bravo’s election night party at the Backyard on Broadway, the mood was jubilant as supporters chanted the environmentalist’s last name: “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!”

“This was about the community,” Bravo said. “I think the community stepped up, and they said they want something different. They want fresh leadership; they want a voice, and I intend to deliver that.”

Within the past two years, Treviño positioned himself as somewhat of a progressive insurgent on the council. He pushed for more direct financial aid and legal protections for renters and homeowners as well as small businesses while COVID-19 hammered the economy.

Treviño often bucked Mayor Ron Nirenberg on big policy issues during the pandemic, most prominently opposing Nirenberg’s Ready to Work initiative — the sales-tax funded program aimed at paying for out-of-work residents to seek higher-paying jobs through job training and college degree programs.

Treviño proved out of step with voters, including in his own district. The plan passed with nearly 77 percent of the vote in November.

Months later, Nirenberg kicked Treviño out of a pair of key leadership positions he held overseeing the $450 million overhaul of Alamo Plaza.

Treviño had soured on the project after a state panel blocked the relocation of the Cenotaph, a 1930s-era monument to the Alamo defenders — considered crucial to the project’s completion.

Treviño declared the project dead, but Nirenberg disagreed. He replaced Treviño with outgoing District 3 Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran and announced a “reset” to push a slightly scaled-down version of the makeover.

Some of Treviño’s stances alienated neighborhood groups. After the councilman converted his field office into a place where the homeless can seek help, nearby residents in the Dellview neighborhood complained Treviño was making the area less safe.

Bravo, who ran unsuccessfully for Bexar County commissioner in 2018, capitalized on that sentiment to get into a runoff with Treviño and run up the score in Dellview and other parts of the district. He snagged an early but slim lead when the early vote came in, a lead that grew steadily throughout the night.

District 2

In a contentious race on the East Side, District 2 Councilwoman Jada Andrews-Sullivan, 45, lost her bid for a second term to Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, a 26-year-old math teacher at James Madison High School and the councilwoman’s former communications director.

McKee-Rodriguez won by a wide margin, capturing 63 percent of the vote. Andrews-Sullivan had 37 percent of the vote.

He is the seventh person to represent the East Side council district since 2014. Andrews-Sullivan was first elected in 2019. She ran on a campaign that she would bring stability to the post with a second term.

“We understand that we’re going into this with a lot of work to do and we have a lot to prove,” McKee-Rodriguez said Saturday night. “I’m just so grateful that a district that is told that stability matters more than quality leadership has decided to place their trust in me and take that gamble.

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“I do not take that lightly at all,” he added.

Shortly after the early vote results came in, showing McKee-Rodriguez with a commanding 62 percent of the vote, Andrews-Sullivan said in a statement: “We did the best for our community and we’re thankful for the opportunity.”

She and McKee-Rodriguez ended up in a runoff after fighting off 10 other candidates in the May election. McKee-Rodriguez received the most votes at 26 percent, while Andrews-Sullivan had 18 percent of the vote.

McKee-Rodriguez is the first openly gay man elected in San Antonio, and the first openly gay Black man elected in the state of Texas, according to LGBTQ Victory Fund.

The first gay person to serve on San Antonio’s city council was Elena Guajardo, who was elected in 2005 to represent District 7.

McKee-Rodriguez said his first priority will be to dissect the proposed budget and “make sure District 2 gets their fair share.”

He also wants to fight for infrastructure improvements such as sidewalks, drainage and streetlights, as well as a “fair and just police union contract to make sure that accountability is front and center.”

District 9

District 9 incumbent John Courage comfortably won a third term on City Council, aided by a better than 3-to-1 margin in mail ballots.

Courage, a progressive who has won over many conservatives in his North Side district, defeated challenger Patrick Von Dohlen by nearly 8 percentage points in Saturday’s runoff.

Based on unofficial returns from all precincts, Courage had 9,895 votes and Von Dohlen 8,476.

In ballots cast at polling sites on Saturday and during the early voting period for the runoff, Courage led Von Dohlen by just 114 votes. But the incumbent enjoyed a huge advantage in mail ballots, collecting 1,885 to Von Dohlen’s 580, according to figures posted by the Bexar County Elections Department.

“This vote tells me District 9 really measured me by what I provided for the district and not by the distractions and rhetoric of my opponent,” Courage said.

Von Dohlen is an investment firm owner and ardent social conservative who opposes abortion and LGBTQ rights.

He lost to Courage in 2017 and 2019, but during this year’s campaign his yard signs were big and plentiful. Even Courage supporters privately expressed concern that Von Dohlen’s relentless labeling of the incumbent as a “socialist” probably energized some supporters of former President Donald Trump, who carried District 9 in November’s presidential election.

Courage, 70, stuck with his political playbook – refraining from partisan attacks and emphasizing his reputation for being accessible and effective at dealing with nuts-and-bolts constituent concerns such as sidewalks, traffic and drainage.

A former Air Force police officer, special education teacher and Alamo Colleges District board member, Courage has forged friendships with the Council’s devout liberals as well as its only conservative, District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry, a monthly poker cohort who sits beside him on the dais.

Courage seemed exasperated at times by the vitriolic rhetoric of Von Dohlen, a father of nine who has refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, claims man-made climate warming isn’t a scientific fact and regularly excoriates gays.

Von Dohlen’s campaign manager did not respond to a request for comment.

District 3

On the Southeast Side, Phyllis Viagran trounced former state Rep. Tomas Uresti on Saturday for the District 3 seat vacated by Viagran’s younger sister.

The candidates, members of prominent families in the district, ran what was largely a clean, civil runoff to replace Rebecca Viagran, who reached the four-term maximum on City Council.

Uresti was unable to overcome Phyllis Viagran’s early commanding lead as the votes were counted. Throughout the night, Viagran had more than 60 percent of the vote.

“We worked really hard to get the vote out,” Phyllis Viagran said by phone from a watch party at Tandem.

Viagran, 48, was a civilian for seven years in the San Antonio Police Department’s domestic violence unit working with victims of family violence. She had also worked at Visit San Antonio, a public-private nonprofit that promotes the city to tourists and convention planners. She then went on to work at Senior Planet, which teaches elders how to use technology, and sat on the board of the charitable arm of the Brooks Development Authority.

This is her first elected position, and though she said she shares the same work ethic with her sister, she aims to bring a new approach.

“I think the difference I have is a fresh perspective,” she said. “I have been more in direct services with the community. I want more of their input in the process, especially with federal funds. It’s a completely different time from when Rebecca got elected eight years ago. Now we’re in an economic recovery from the pandemic.”

Uresti is the brother of Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector Albert Uresti and former state Sen. Carlos Uresti, who is serving 12 years in federal prison for fraud, money laundering and public corruption.

District 5

Progressive reform candidate Teri Castillo soundly defeated retired city employee Rudy Lopez in the race to succeed Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales in District 5 on the city’s West Side.

Castillo had 58 percent of the vote, compared with 42 percent for Lopez, who received an endorsement from Gonzales.

The hard-fought runoff centered on affordable housing, historic preservation and ideas for stimulating economic and educational opportunities in one of San Antonio’s poorest council districts.

Already a lively race with Castillo’s criticisms of Gonzales framing her as the more anti-establishment candidate in the runoff, the contest grew heated in recent weeks. Lopez’s campaign put out a mailer last month stating Castillo “advocates for Socialist and Marxist ideals.” Castillo dismissed the flyer as an attempt by Lopez to sidestep real issues in the race.

Then, in a high-profile case involving the potential demolition of the 90-year-old Whitt Building in Cattleman Square Historic District, Castillo joined demonstrators, saying the city’s process for weighing concerns about the building’s structural integrity against efforts to preserve its historic architecture had been circumvented in the waning days of Gonzales’ last term. The city’s Historic and Design Review Commission decided in an emergency meeting Wednesday to let the owner remove the building’s damaged roof, but preserve the building’s concrete frame and facade.

Castillo, a 29-year-old educator who advocated for public input on city budget decisions, led the field of 11 candidates in the May 1 election with 30.7 percent of the ballots cast but didn’t have enough to escape a runoff. Lopez had 14.7 percent.

She said late Saturday that the outcome of the runoff was a sign that District 5 residents want a city “that works for all of us.”

“Folks are tired,” she said, referring to the feedback she heard from residents while block walking. “They’re ready for bold change, to meet the material needs of the established communities in District 5.”

Castillo said one of her immediate priorities will be neighborhood stabilization and helping homeowners rehabilitate their homes to prevent demolition.

Her endorsements included County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, Councilwoman Ana Sandoval, former Mayor Julián Castro and former Councilwoman María Berriozábal.

This is a developing report. Check back with ExpressNews.com for updates.