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Project Marvel wasn’t on the San Antonio municipal election ballot, but it might as well have been. The multi-billion-dollar downtown revitalization plan lost a committed booster when Rolando Pablos fell short to Gina Ortiz Jones in the race for mayor.
During interviews with Ortiz Jones on TPR’s The Source, I asked her directly about her position on the creation of the new sports and entertainment district, anchored by a new arena for the San Antonio Spurs. She made it clear that she was skeptical of the need for the project and questioned how it would benefit San Antonio—as opposed to Pablos who said it would help the city's economic development.
When I asked Pablos the same question, he didn’t dodge. Pablos was clear he wanted Project Marvel to be realized in order to keep The Spurs in San Antonio. He also supported the expansions to the Henry B. González Convention Center and the Alamodome, a new convention hotel and a live entertainment venue.
Project Marvel is a long-term initiative, with the timeline for completion expected to span at least a decade. The proposed project is being funded through a variety of sources, including private development, tax credits, and potentially voter-approved funding mechanisms like a county venue tax and general obligation bonds. How that moves forward is up to the entire city council of which the mayor is just one vote. There’s a majority of the district representatives who would likely continue to push the proposal along.
So the outcome of this runoff isn’t going to doom Project Marvel, but Ortiz Jones could demand that the revitalization plan be supported by an even greater share of private dollars. In addition, Ortiz Jones can use the mayor’s office bully pulpit to dial back the gargantuan redevelopment and also make sure it doesn’t gobble up every available hotel occupancy tax dollar that otherwise would be earmarked and shared with other arts and cultural organizations in San Antonio.
Governor Greg Abbott also wasn’t on the ballot but his connection to Pablos was clear as his presence loomed in photos circulated by the Ortiz Jones campaign on social media. Pablos argued, saying, "I'm my own man," and that he is not beholden to Abbott. The assertions were weakened by his overflowing campaign war chest. The Texas Economic Fund is a PAC with ties to Abbott that helps fund conservative candidates running in local races. Perhaps that aerial advertisement—the airplane with the Pablos-for-Mayor banner flying over the Alamo City—fed the perception that he had excessive campaign funds and the state was imposing on local concerns.
The former Texas Secretary of State’s connection to the Republican governor was the only thing that some voters knew about him and that was enough to convince them to vote in favor of Ortiz Jones. True or not, she painted Pablos as someone who would bring MAGA into city hall. And Pablos didn’t go out of his way to deny it.
At the end of the day, when given a choice between an anti-abortion pro-development Republican and an LGBTQ Democrat who has a 100 rating from Planned Parenthood, the majority of voters chose Ortiz Jones. For the first time, the new mayor and the council don’t have to run again for four years—which is plenty of time to process the result of this night.
