Sukh Kaur defeated incumbent Mario Bravo to win San Antonio’s District 1 City Council seat.
Kaur, an education consultant, will represent downtown and near North Side neighborhoods. She’s also the first South Asian council member in the city’s history.
Kaur said that the first thing she was going to do is hire someone to focus on the district’s infrastructure.
“If you have ever driven on St. Mary’s Strip or Broadway, you have seen that our infrastructure issues are a challenge in District 1," she said. "So the first thing I’m going to do is hire someone specifically designated to working just on infrastructure.”
Another issue Kaur planned to tackle was community concern over dangerous dogs. That concern has grown since the mauling of an elderly man earlier this year in San Antonio.
In a forum with TPR’s "The Source" on May 31, Kaur said that she's been attacked by a dog before, so she understood the dangers of roaming dogs. She explained the steps she would take to address the issue.
“Make sure we're doing everything we can to communicate with our residents, and let them know the danger, and try to create more code enforcement policies to help support getting them back into homes and increasing the safety of all residents," she said.
Kaur is the CEO and founder of EDreimagined, an education organization that assists charter school creation.
She is also a board member of Texas Public Radio. She told TPR she would not leave her board position to run for the City Council.
Her victory alongside District 7's Marina Alderete Gavito returns the San Antonio City Council to a majority female city council: six women and five men — the third time that has happened in the city's history.
Bravo, the incumbent, had garnered negative public perception following his outburst against former District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval and censure by the city council.
In remarks after she declared victory, Kaur congratulated Bravo. She said they spoke via phone and that he promised to work with her to ensure a smooth transition between them.