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Taylor Wins Mayor's Race Saying: "We Defeated A Political Machine"

Joey Palacios
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Texas Public Radio
Ivy Taylor with former mayoral opponent Tommy Adkisson and family at her victory party.

San Antonio’s interim mayor is soon to become the city’s first, elected black female mayor.  At her Saturday night victory party, Ivy Taylor said she wants to get back to city business that’s been interrupted by a bruising, six month campaign. 

At her confetti-filled victory celebration, Ivy Taylor told a crowd of cheering supporters, “We’ve defeated a political machine.”

Throughout her campaign Taylor cast opponent Leticia Van de Putte as a partisan politician.  Van de Putte was repeatedly elected as a Democrat during her 24 years in the state legislature.

Credit Shelley Kofler / Texas Public Radio
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Texas Public Radio
Leticia Van de Putte with husband Pete tells supporters she "came up short" in her race to become San Antonio mayor.

“People are tired of politics as usual. They [voters] want to turn the page and have someone who is just a dedicated public servant and not necessarily a career politician. So I think that made the difference,” Taylor told cheering crowd of supporters.

Van de Putte’s campaign manager, Christian Archer, pinned the 52 to 48 percent win for Taylor on a solid turnout among conservative voters who favored Taylor, and on Taylor gaining the exposure that comes from already being on the job as the interim mayor chosen by council colleagues.

“Being the mayor, you know, you’re in the newspaper four or five times every day doing things for the city,” said Archer.

Taylor says she’s now ready to get back to negotiating a contract agreement with police officers who backed Van de Putte.

Van de Putte says she’s offered to assist Mayor Taylor any way she can, and asked her supporters to do the same.

“We need to stop being us and them, North Side and South Side.  We need to be one San Antonio and I’m going to be part of that,” said Van de Putte, though she wasn’t specific about her plans.

Taylor will be sworn in for her two –year term on June 24.

Shelley Kofler is Texas Public Radio’s news director. She joined the San Antonio station in December 2014 and leads a growing staff that produces two weekly programs; a daily talk show, news features, reports and online content. Prior to TPR, Shelley served as the managing editor and news director at KERA in Dallas-Fort Worth, and the Austin bureau chief and legislative reporter for North Texas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV.