The biggest race in Bexar is for the top job, County Judge. In Texas, the position of county judge is very important. The state's constitution entrusts the elected official with vast power over the county's budget and administration. As a result the position well compensated. Unlike San Antonio's city council, which pays councilors $20 per meeting and the Mayor a larger stipend, the county pays its commissioners a full-time salary, with county judge making in excess of $120,000.
This year's race marks a diverging vision for Bexar County.
Carlton Soules, is the Republican Candidate for Bexar County Judge. He is a former San Antonio city council member for district 10. He proudly describes himself as a fiscal conservative. He has argued throughout his campaign the current state of the county is one of waste, and one focused too much on the center city. Soules often made a similar case against the San Antonio City Council. He wants to draw additional attention to areas outside of San Antonio's downtown, getting back to basics building and maintaining infrastructure.
Judge Nelson Wolff has been Bexar County Judge since 2001. Wolff was a council member for San Antonio from 1987 until becoming the city's Mayor in 1991. He was Mayor of San Antonio from 1991-1995. Wolff has played a key role shepherding several large projects to fruition, including the Mission Reach expansion, the first all-digital library Bibliotech, and Tobin Center. He believes in a strong San Antonio Center city as an economic driver for the county, but contends it isn't at the expense of other areas, listing many county wide projects in flood-control, transportation, and other quality of life projects.
