Mayoral election in San Antonio, Texas (2025)

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← 2023
2025 San Antonio elections
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Election dates
Filing deadline: February 14, 2025
General election: May 3, 2025
Runoff election: June 7, 2025
Election stats
Offices up: Mayor
Total seats up: 1 (click here for other city elections)
Other municipal elections
U.S. municipal elections, 2025

Gina Ortiz Jones defeated Rolando Pablos 54.3% to 45.7% in the June 7, 2025, runoff election for mayor of San Antonio, Texas.

Ortiz Jones and Pablos advanced to the runoff from the nonpartisan general election on May 3. Ortiz Jones received 27.2% of the vote and Pablos received 16.6%. The two advanced to a runoff because neither received at least 50% of the vote.

Incumbent Ron Nirenberg, elected in June 2017, was term-limited. Though the office was nonpartisan, Nirenberg joined the Democratic Party in 2024 and was previously an independent.[1] This was the city's first mayoral election in 16 years without an incumbent on the ballot.[2]

The San Antonio Report's Andrea Drusch wrote, "The race to become San Antonio’s next mayor is headed toward a partisan showdown between one candidate loved by national Democratic Party leaders [Ortiz Jones] and another [Pablos] who has close ties to the Republicans who control every lever of power in Texas state government. ... Texas’ big city mayors have steadily become less progressive as traditional liberal incumbents termed out, and all eyes will be on San Antonio as Jones and Pablos face off in what is supposed to be a nonpartisan race."[3] The runoff election did not feature any city council candidates. Drusch wrote, "Historically, San Antonio has shown preference for candidates with council experience. The city has elected just one mayor without it in 70 years — Phil Hardberger — making the dominance of City Hall outsiders in this race highly unusual."[3]

Notable endorsements for Ortiz Jones included: former mayors Phil Hardberger and Julian Castro; congressmen Greg Casar (D) and Joaquin Castro (D); councilmembers Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Phyllis Viagran, and Teri Castillo; and the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations. The San Antonio Police Officers’ Association, former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R), and Gov. Greg Abbott (R)-affiliated PAC, The Texas Economic Fund, endorsed Pablos.[4][5]

Ortiz Jones served as undersecretary of the Air Force (2021-2024) in the Biden administration. She said she would focus on working families and young people, and would "work to bring down costs where we can, make smart investments in our future, and respect taxpayers by increasing transparency around how tax dollars are spent."[6] Pablos served as Texas secretary of state from 2017 to 2018. He said his priorities were public safety, better-paying jobs, small businesses, government accountability, and basic city services such as affordable utilities, walkable neighborhoods, and enhanced drainage systems and garbage collection.[7]

Heading into the May 3 election, the San Antonio Report's Leigh Munsil said the new mayor and city council would need to navigate "multiple city-shaping economic development efforts like a downtown stadium for the Missions baseball team and a possible relocation of the Spurs to Hemisfair ... [as well as] challenges of housing affordability, public safety and infrastructure, to name a few."[8]

San Antonio, which was the seventh most populous city in the country as of May 2025, has a council-manager system, meaning the mayor represents one of 11 votes on the city council. The mayor and city council appoint a chief executive called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations and implement the council's policy and legislative initiatives.[1][9][10]

This page covers the June 7, 2025, runoff. Click here for more on the general election.

Candidates and election results

General runoff election

General runoff election for Mayor of San Antonio

Gina Ortiz Jones defeated Rolando Pablos in the general runoff election for Mayor of San Antonio on June 7, 2025.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Gina Ortiz Jones
Gina Ortiz Jones (Nonpartisan)
 
54.3
 
77,587
Image of Rolando Pablos
Rolando Pablos (Nonpartisan)
 
45.7
 
65,245

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 142,832
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

General election

General election for Mayor of San Antonio

The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of San Antonio on May 3, 2025.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Gina Ortiz Jones
Gina Ortiz Jones (Nonpartisan)
 
27.2
 
27,517
✔
Image of Rolando Pablos
Rolando Pablos (Nonpartisan)
 
16.6
 
16,798
Image of Beto Altamirano
Beto Altamirano (Nonpartisan)
 
12.1
 
12,190
Image of Adriana Garcia
Adriana Garcia (Nonpartisan)
 
9.9
 
10,016
Image of Manny Pelaez
Manny Pelaez (Nonpartisan)
 
7.3
 
7,398
Image of Melissa Cabello Havrda
Melissa Cabello Havrda (Nonpartisan)
 
6.7
 
6,736
Image of John Courage
John Courage (Nonpartisan)
 
5.6
 
5,625
Image of Clayton Perry
Clayton Perry (Nonpartisan)
 
5.5
 
5,575
Image of Tim Westley
Tim Westley (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
3.7
 
3,776
Image of Robert Melvin
Robert Melvin (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
0.9
 
944
Image of Christopher Reyes
Christopher Reyes (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
0.5
 
522
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Sonia Traut (Nonpartisan)
 
0.4
 
449
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Diana Uriegas (Nonpartisan)
 
0.4
 
444
Image of Jade McCullough
Jade McCullough (Nonpartisan)
 
0.4
 
425
Image of Brandon Gonzales
Brandon Gonzales (Nonpartisan)
 
0.4
 
355
Image of Mauricio Sanchez
Mauricio Sanchez (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
0.3
 
337
Image of Andrew Vicencio
Andrew Vicencio (Nonpartisan)
 
0.3
 
303
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Michael Samaniego (Nonpartisan)
 
0.3
 
302
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Chris Herring (Nonpartisan)
 
0.2
 
236
Image of Robert Salinas
Robert Salinas (Nonpartisan)
 
0.2
 
197
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Gerardo Zambrano (Nonpartisan)
 
0.2
 
183
Image of Santos Alvarado
Santos Alvarado (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
0.2
 
164
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James Melvin (Nonpartisan)
 
0.2
 
163
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Armando Dominguez (Nonpartisan)
 
0.2
 
152
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April Guadarrama (Nonpartisan)
 
0.1
 
149
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Bill Ruppel (Nonpartisan)
 
0.1
 
113
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Arturo Espinosa (Nonpartisan)
 
0.1
 
81

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 101,150
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Texas elections, 2025

What's on your ballot?
Click here to find out!

May 3, 2025
June 7, 2025
November 4, 2025

Voting informaion

What was the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: May 8, 2025
  • By mail: Received by May 8, 2025
  • Online: May 8, 2025

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • By mail: Received by May 27, 2025

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • By mail: Received by June 7, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. OR June 9, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. if carrier envelope is postmarked by 7:00 p.m. at the location of the election on Election Day (unless overseas or military voter deadlines apply)

Was early voting available to all voters? Yes

What were the early voting start and end dates? May 27, 2025 - June 3, 2025

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? Yes. The following list of accepted ID was current as of February 2023. Click here for the Texas Secretary of State's page on accepted ID to ensure you have the most current information.

  • Texas driver’s license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
  • Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS
  • Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS
  • Texas handgun license issued by DPS
  • United States Military Identification Card containing the person’s photograph
  • United States Citizenship Certificate containing the person’s photograph
  • United States passport (book or card)

When were polls open on Election Day? 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Gina Ortiz Jones

Image of Gina Ortiz Jones

WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography:  Ortiz Jones served as under secretary of the Air Force (2021-2024) under the Biden administration. She received an M.A. in economics from Boston University in 2003, an M.A. in global and international studies from the University of Kansas, Lawrence in 2012, and a master's of military art and science from the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies in 2013.


Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Ortiz Jones said she would focus on working families and young people, and would "work to bring down costs where we can, make smart investments in our future, and respect taxpayers by increasing transparency around how tax dollars are spent."

Ortiz Jones listed her priorities as public safety, housing affordability, early childhood education and childcare, respecting taxpayers and smart investments, ready to work, and connecting people to opportunities.

Ortiz Jones said that as under secretary of the Air Force she "led to ensure we were making smart investments and helping our service members serve to their full potential." As mayor, she said she would "continue to ask the tough questions, push for the change we deserve, and ensure City Hall works for us."

Show sources

Sources: Gina Ortiz Jones for Mayor, "Priorities," accessed April 2, 2025; U.S. Department of Defense, "Gina Ortiz Jones," accessed April 2, 2025

This information was current as of the candidate's run for Mayor of San Antonio in 2025.

Rolando Pablos

Image of Rolando Pablos

WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Incumbent: No

Political Office: 

Biography:  Pablos was a managing partner at Cross-National Advisory Partners and founded a think tank, FutureFirst SA. He received an L.L.M. from the University of Texas School of Law and a J.D. from St. Mary's University School of Law.


Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Pablos said his priorities were public safety, better-paying jobs, small businesses, government accountability, and basic city services such as affordable utilities, walkable neighborhoods, and enhanced drainage systems and garbage collection.

Pablos said he was running for mayor "with a bold vision: a city where every family thrives, every neighborhood feels safe, and every child has a bright future." He added that an investment in his campaign was "an investment in better schools, stronger infrastructure, safer communities, and an economy that works for everyone."

Pablos said he brought major businesses to Texas during his time as secretary of state. He said he would do the same as mayor of San Antonio, "leveraging his network across Texas, the U.S., and internationally to bring companies that offer high-paying jobs to the city."

Show sources

Sources: Rolando Pablos for Mayor, "My Vision for San Antonio," accessed April 2, 2025; LinkedIn, "Rolando Pablos," accessed April 2, 2025, San Antonio Report, "Who is running for mayor in San Antonio? Here’s the full list." March 27, 2025

This information was current as of the candidate's run for Mayor of San Antonio in 2025.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign advertisements

This section includes a selection of up to three campaign advertisements per candidate released in this race, as well as links to candidates' YouTube, Vimeo, and/or Facebook video pages. If you are aware of other links that should be included, please email us.

Grey.png Gina Ortiz Jones

View more ads here:

Grey.png Rolando Pablos

April 30, 2025
April 17, 2025
April 4, 2025

View more ads here:


Election competitiveness

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

We provide results for polls from a wide variety of sources, including media outlets, social media, campaigns, and aggregation websites, when available. No polls were available for this election. To notify us of polls published in this election, please email us.

Endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

Click the links below to see official endorsement lists published on candidate campaign websites for any candidates that make that information available. If you are aware of a website that should be included, please email us.

Election spending

Campaign finance

Candidates in this election submitted campaign finance reports to the City of San Antonio. Click here to access those reports.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[11][12][13]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

Election context

Mayor of San Antonio election history

2023

General election

General election for Mayor of San Antonio

The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of San Antonio on May 6, 2023.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Ron Nirenberg
Ron Nirenberg (Nonpartisan)
 
60.7
 
83,238
Image of Christopher Schuchardt
Christopher Schuchardt (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
21.9
 
30,011
Image of Gary Allen
Gary Allen (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
6.2
 
8,462
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Michael Samaniego (Nonpartisan)
 
3.3
 
4,529
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Diana Uriegas (Nonpartisan)
 
3.0
 
4,061
Image of Christopher Longoria
Christopher Longoria (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
2.3
 
3,115
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Ray Adam Basaldua (Nonpartisan)
 
1.5
 
2,123
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Armando Dominguez (Nonpartisan)
 
0.7
 
965
Image of Michael Idrogo
Michael Idrogo (Nonpartisan)
 
0.4
 
535

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 137,039
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2021

General election

General election for Mayor of San Antonio

The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of San Antonio on May 1, 2021.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Ron Nirenberg
Ron Nirenberg (Nonpartisan)
 
61.9
 
92,156
Image of Greg Brockhouse
Greg Brockhouse (Nonpartisan)
 
31.5
 
46,829
Image of Denise Gutierrez
Denise Gutierrez (Nonpartisan)
 
1.8
 
2,711
Image of Gary Allen
Gary Allen (Nonpartisan)
 
1.4
 
2,049
Image of Antonio Diaz
Antonio Diaz (Nonpartisan)
 
0.9
 
1,358
Image of Tim Atwood
Tim Atwood (Nonpartisan)
 
0.5
 
786
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Jacq'ue Miller (Nonpartisan)
 
0.5
 
703
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Ray Adam Basaldua (Nonpartisan)
 
0.4
 
631
Image of Michael Idrogo
Michael Idrogo (Nonpartisan)
 
0.3
 
406
Image of John Velasquez
John Velasquez (Nonpartisan)
 
0.2
 
340
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Dan Martinez (Nonpartisan)
 
0.2
 
334
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Frank Muniz (Nonpartisan)
 
0.1
 
208
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Justin Macaluso (Nonpartisan)
 
0.1
 
207
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Joshua Galvan (Nonpartisan)
 
0.1
 
172

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 148,890
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2019

General runoff candidates

General election candidates

Candidate Connection = candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey

Earlier results


2025 battleground elections

See also: Battlegrounds

This is a battleground election. Other 2025 battleground elections include:

Mayoral partisanship

San Antonio has a Democratic mayor. As of October 2025, 66 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 23 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian Party, three are independents, five identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and two mayors' affiliations are unknown. Click here for a list of the 100 largest cities' mayors and their partisan affiliations.

Mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan in most of the nation's largest cities. However, many officeholders are affiliated with political parties. Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.

Help inform our readers

Take our candidate survey

See also: Survey

At Ballotpedia, we believe that everyone deserves meaningful, reliable, trustworthy information about their candidates. We also know that good information—especially at the local level—is hard to find. That's why Ballotpedia created Candidate Connection.

We ask all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Our survey helps voters better understand how their candidates think about the world and how they intend to govern—information they need to feel confident they're picking the best person for the role.

If you are a candidate, take our survey here. Or you can ask a candidate to take the survey by sharing the link with them.

Submit endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

Endorsements can be particularly helpful for voters trying to decide between candidates in local races, which often feature nonpartisan candidates. Endorsements from individuals and organizations can help voters better understand policy differences between candidates in these cases where little or no other news coverage of policy stances exists.

Candidates, share endorsements here. Readers, share endorsements you know about here.

About the city

See also: San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is a city in Bexar County, Texas. As of 2020, its population was 1,434,625.

City government

See also: Council-manager government

The city of San Antonio uses a council-manager system. In this form of municipal government, an elected city council—which includes the mayor and serves as the city's primary legislative body—appoints a chief executive called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations and implement the council's policy and legislative initiatives.[14]

Demographics

The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.

Demographic Data for San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio Texas
Population 1,434,625 29,145,505
Land area (sq mi) 498 261,267
Race and ethnicity**
White 71.9% 69.2%
Black/African American 6.8% 12.1%
Asian 3% 4.9%
Native American 0.7% 0.5%
Pacific Islander 0.1% 0.1%
Other (single race) 7.4% 6.2%
Multiple 10.1% 7%
Hispanic/Latino 64.7% 39.4%
Education
High school graduation rate 82.7% 84.4%
College graduation rate 26.4% 30.7%
Income
Median household income $53,420 $63,826
Persons below poverty level 17.6% 14.2%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


See also

San Antonio, Texas Texas Municipal government Other local coverage
Seal of San Antonio.jpeg
Seal of Texas.png
Municipal Government Final.png
Local Politics Image.jpg

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Downballot, "Morning Digest: How the pick to replace Vance in the Senate upends Ohio's race for governor," January 20, 2025
  2. ↑ KSAT.com, "The San Antonio mayor and council races are set. Could the ballot order sway the outcome of a packed race?" February 24, 2025
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 San Antonio Report, "From a field of 27 candidates, San Antonio’s mayor race is now Jones vs. Pablos," May 4, 2025
  4. ↑ KSAT, "List: Endorsements for San Antonio mayoral candidates," May 13, 2025
  5. ↑ San Antonio Report, "Greg Abbott has a PAC to shape local politics — including San Antonio’s mayoral race," March 18, 2025
  6. ↑ Gina Ortiz Jones for Mayor, "Priorities," accessed March 22, 2025
  7. ↑ Rolando Pablos for Mayor, "My Vision For San Antonio," accessed March 22, 2025
  8. ↑ San Antonio Report, "The 2025 San Antonio Report Voter Guide is live! Use our guide to prepare your vote." March 13, 2025
  9. ↑ City of San Antonio, "About Us," accessed September 2, 2021
  10. ↑ City of San Antonio, "City Charter," printed July 2021
  11. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
  12. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
  13. ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
  14. ↑ City of San Antonio, "Your Government," accessed October 24, 2014
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