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Former U.S. Air Force Under Secretary Gina Ortiz Jones and former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos have advanced from a crowded field of 27 candidates to a runoff in the race for mayor of San Antonio.
Ortiz Jones was not available for comment as she attended the Fiesta Flambeau parade coinciding with Election Night. She amassed 27,483 votes, which is 27.20% of the vote.
16,785 people voted for Pablos, giving him 16.61% of the vote.
"I think now that we got rid of the rest of the pack, I think we'll have a lot of allies coming on board who, you know, are aligned with our message. So I'm very excited about that," Pablos told supporters at his Election Night watch party.
Pablos has represented the Republican party at the state level and Oritz Jones has represented the Democratic party in previous congressional races. Both raised much of their campaign money from outside San Antonio and Texas.
While Ortiz Jones has consistently polled at the top of the pack, Pablos said he is ready for the runoff.
"We need to come together as a community, and now we'll be that unifying force. We need to stop fighting," he said. "We need to work towards those things that matter, like basic services, and put aside all the ideology, and finally, once and for all, do great things for San Antonio.”
Tech entrepreneur Beto Altamirano garnered 12,178 votes — amounting to 12.05% — and District 4 Councilmember Adriana Rocha Garcia had 9,992 votes, or 9.89%.
Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew reported at a Saturday afternoon press conference that voter turnout was light. Total voter turnout including Saturday's in-person votes and early voting was 9.26%.
“With the turnout that it is, we feel like there's a lot of overshadowing by other community events and Fiesta," Carew said.
San Antonio was the second largest city in America that held a mayoral election on May 3 as longtime Mayor Ron Nirenberg reached his term limit.
Early voting for the runoff between Ortiz Jones and Pablos will begin on May 27, and the runoff Election Day will be June 7.
