The race to be the next Bexar County Precinct 4 commissioner is moving into a runoff election for both parties after no candidate could reach the 50 percent of the vote required to get their party's nomination.
Commissioner Tommy Adkisson held the seat for nearly 14 years and when he announced he was running for county judge it opened a floodgate of candidates to try and fill the vacancy.
Democrats:
Six Democratic candidates ended up on the ballot, but after election night it was narrowed down to two -- SAISD Board Trustee Deborah Guerro and public relations consultant Tommy Calvert both got about 25 percent of the vote and will face each other in the runoff.
Guerro’s election party was held at a private residence with friends and family. Guerro said one of her main concerns is the lack of female representation on commissioner’s court.
“The fact is there hasn’t been a woman on the commissioner’s court since 2001," Guerro said. "Honestly, that’s a shame when 51 percent of the population is not represented in a governmental entity that large.”
Calvert, at his campaign headquarters, said the precinct has not been getting it’s fair share of resources for streets and drainage.
“We are 40 percent of the county -- we are the largest geographic precinct but we only get about 17 percent of the streets and drainage budget," Calvert said. "When you look at the $800 million that was pumped here from TxDOT and the governor not a dollar was sent to Precinct 4. I’m going to change that.”
Republicans:
On the Republican side, a pair of mayors will be going head to head in the runoff. Current Windcrest Mayor Alan Baxter and Kirby Mayor Timothy Wilson each had just under 40 percent of the vote.
Both say their main concerns are addressing a sheriff’s deputy and fire protection presence in the eastern part of the county. Baxter said he believes infrastructure is a major concern.
“We’re always in fourth place out of four precincts when it comes to infrastructure improvement," Baxter said. "We’re the only the only precinct that doesn’t have complete protection with fire. We need to have a Sheriff’s Substation Precinct four. We got away from the basics of public safety, quality of life and infrastructure.”
Wilson, at his election party, echoed Baxter’s sentiments on police and fire protection and added that the mindset of addressing the needs of Precinct 4 has to change.
“We can’t continue to spend money on bringing special projects, flying across the world, trying to being companies here to work," Baxter said. "We have companies that still need skilled professional people to work. We have to educate our residents and our citizens to do that. To bring businesses into our neighborhoods we have to take care of those neighborhoods. Nobody is going to move into a downwind neighborhood"
The runoff election to secure the official party candidates for November will be Tuesday, May 27.
