After early votes were counted, the Alamo Colleges District Board of Trustees election seems to be heading to a runoff.
Incumbent Leslie Sachanowicz, who drew three challengers, was at 27.83% of the vote, trailing Robert Garcia, who had a tight lead with 30%.
Carolyn DeLecour was at 26.82% of all early votes shortly after polls closed on Saturday and with a total of 8,235 ballots cast. Former trustee Joe Jesse Sanchez was taking the least amount of early votes with 15.34%.
The top two vote-getters will advance to a June 13 runoff, if no one takes 50% of the vote.
Sachanowicz, 68, an attorney who represents Northeast Bexar County, is finishing his first six-year term and ran a fairly quiet campaign, refusing to raise donations and instead lending himself $7,500 to cover campaign expenses.
His seat came up for reelection in the immediate aftermath of Texas placing tough restrictions on higher education, including doing away with elected faculty senates, placing restrictions on which types of courses public universities can offer, and rooting out campus diversity efforts and threatened to withhold funding from schools that push back.
Garcia, 45, is a certified public accountant who far outpaced the other candidates in campaign donations, and weathered a late-breaking attack over his teen arrest record, which he said was a response to the momentum behind his campaign.
“I didn’t think it was that kind of race,” Garcia said in an interview. “But I guess if you can’t beat ’em, smear ’em.”
DeLecour, 77, a lifelong educator who taught at Palo Alto College for 27 years, earned the support of faculty members and associations. In her campaign she said she aimed to better represent the otherwise silenced voices of the more than 900 full-time faculty members and more than 6,000 faculty and staff members combined.
Sanchez, 78, is a retired educator lost his place on the board to Sachanowicz in 2020 and launched his comeback campaign with the support from former state Sen. Leticia Van De Putte (D-San Antonio) and state Sen. José Menéndez (D-San Antonio) for his comeback campaign.
The 9-member Alamo Colleges District Board oversees policy direction for five independently accredited community colleges in San Antonio, and trustees serve staggered six-year terms.
The incumbent drew criticism from all three challengers, especially Sanchez and DeLecour, who said the wanted a more present and loud voice to represent the district’s needs.
