Democrats dumped their incumbent district clerk to swap in longtime staffer Gloria Martinez as their party’s nominee four years ago, and in her first reelection race, Martinez was also tossed out by Democratic primary voters, who chose Christine “Chris” Castillo in Tuesday’s primary runoff election.
Castillo and Martinez were both career staffers before former District Clerk Mary Angie Garcia pushed them out of their roles during her tenure.
Though they didn’t know one another well at the time, they each launched campaigns against Garcia in 2022, and ultimately advanced to a runoff without her.
Castillo fell short in that year’s primary runoff, but ran again this year, saying she had “unfinished business.”
With all vote centers counted, Castillo was leading Martinez by about 900 votes Tuesday night.
“We are just completely thrilled, over the moon,” Castillo said in an interview. “I’m ready to get going and get moving in this office, which in reality, hasn’t had much movement for the past probably five or six years.”
Bexar County Clerk Lucy Adame-Clark was also pushed to a runoff in her Democratic primary but defeated her challenger Cynthia Castro easily with 60% of the vote.
The district clerk is in charge of maintaining records and filings for the county’s roughly two dozen district courts — something that offices across the state have started offering online to varying degrees.
It’s also been a place where employees once stuck around for decades.
Castillo, a Brackenridge High School alumnus, started working there just after high school and rose through the ranks as a supervisor and division chief.
“In my mind, I felt like ‘Well, I’ll stay a few years, just get some experience and then maybe move on. But I came to love my job,” Castillo told the San Antonio Report in March.
Castillo retired in 2019 after being shifted around to several roles by Mary Angie Garcia.
But she takes credit for overseeing some of the office’s digital transformation while serving as Division Chief of Records and Finance and has long wanted to return and restore the office to its former glory.
“At one time, Bexar County was the ideal District Clerk’s office, a lot of counties in Texas would look to us as far as our processes and the way we handle things,” Castillo said in March. “Now other counties are not looking at Bexar County anymore, because we don’t have answers. It’s kind of embarrassing.”
Castillo lives on the South Side with her wife, Debi.
Her campaign was backed by the former Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, the North East Bexar County Democrats, the Bexar County Young Democrats, the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and the Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio.
While Martinez will remain in office through the end of her term, Castillo will be Democrats’ nominee on the ballot in November.
Despite the Democrats’ turmoil, Republicans didn’t field a candidate for the role this year.
They put up a strong contender four years ago in now-Councilwoman Misty Spears, but the party lost big in countywide races and has since struggled to recruit candidates for countywide races.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.