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Nirenberg announces final run for mayor as San Antonio City Council prepares for election this May

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg at his campaign launch party on Feb. 11, 2023
Joey Palacios
/
TPR
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg at his campaign launch party on Feb. 11, 2023

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg kicked off what will be his final campaign for mayor on Saturday. The pool of candidates for all of the city council seats is growing. They and Nirenberg will run for office in May.

If Nirenberg wins in May, this will be his last two year term.

The mayor and council members' seats are term limited to a maximum of eight years in office. The entire council is up for election this year.

Only one seat of the ten districts, District 7, will have no confirmed incumbent running, leaving the seat available to newcomers to the city council.

Nirenberg has spent ten years in political office so far, starting with four years as District 8 councilman in 2013. The last six years have been spent as mayor.

“Make no mistake, this campaign is my fourth and final, but what we’re kicking off today is a campaign with purpose and one with a mission,” he told supporters on Saturday. “Emerging from the pandemic, not many cities would have placed their bets on each other, neighbors helping neighbors, but that’s exactly what San Antonio did, and I hope that’s what makes you proud.”

Half of Nirenberg’s time as mayor so far have been leading the city though the pandemic and its recovery. He said this time as mayor has been focused on making sure San Antonio families can thrive.

“We can do that by providing pathways to higher paying careers, through programs like ready to work. We’ve been approving the affordable housing supply all across this community/ We’re focusing on getting to the root causes of crime to keep our community safe.”

Nirenberg’s first two elections went into runoff. The first was against the incumbent mayor, Ivy Taylor, in 2017. Nirenberg defeated her in a runoff that June. His second election was also forced into a runoff — that time against challenger and former Councilman Greg Brockhouse in 2019. Nirenberg won.

Brockhouse challenged Nirenberg again in 2021 but voters selected the incumbent without a runoff.

As of Monday, there were five people who have filed to run for mayor of San Antonio in 2023.

They include: Ray Basuldua, a businessman; Michael Idrogo, a frequent candidate for mayor; Christopher Longria, who lists his occupation as dishwasher on his filing documents; and Diana Uriegas, who is a housewife.

Each city council seat has at least one candidate filed, and as of this weekend, all incumbents have filed for re-election except for District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry.

Perry is facing charges of DWI and failure to exchange information after an alleged Nov. 6 hit and run, and it’s unclear if he plans to file for re-election for what would be his final term.

Perry did not respond to TPR's request for comment on his plans for re-election, if any.

The filing deadline is Friday.

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Joey Palacios can be reached atJoey@TPR.org and on Twitter at @Joeycules