Update: This story has been updated to include comments from the Bexar County Northwest Democrats about the chair race.
Bexar County Democratic Party Chair Monica Ramirez Alcántara’s transition to power in 2018 was a rocky one, as allies of her predecessor rejected her authority and regular meetings devolved into shouting matches.
Six years later, some of those disagreements are once again resurfacing as Democrats gear up to select her replacement.
Just days after a Nov. 5 election in which Democrats across the country suffered big losses, Alcántara handed in her resignation and endorsed a successor to take her place.
While party activists were still reeling from those results, their frustration quickly turned inward when members of the County Executive Committee learned they would need to choose a new leader within the same month.
“We’ve got to get everybody on the same team,” said Richard Gonzalez, a member of the Tejano Democrats, which has included some of Alcántara’s biggest detractors over the years. “If you stifle dissension, it just creates more dissension.”
The party needs needs half of the county’s 203 Democratic precinct chairs to participate in the Nov. 21 meeting in order to elect a new chair. The winner needs support from a majority of those present.
Like all of the party’s regular business, the Nov. 21 meeting to select the new chair is being conducted over Zoom — a holdover from the Covid-19 pandemic that Alcántara’s critics say has been used to silence their opinions.
That’s despite the North East Bexar County Democrats’ offer to pay for an in-person venue, and multiple calls to delay the meeting so precinct chairs could have more time to meet the three candidates running.
Both suggestions were shut down during the CEC’s regular November meeting, where party leaders who take pride in having civilized the meeting structure said they couldn’t deviate from the precinct chairs’ previously voted-on policy of maintaining the remote meetings.
“They would like to have an open meeting where they can again throw themselves on the floor and cause chaos,” Alcántara said of those calling for change. “But the rules are the rules.”
Candidates line up to lead
Included in Alcántara’s resignation was an endorsement for precinct chair Terri Flores Lopez, a retired elementary school principal who is running to take her place.
“We all were quite disappointed [on election] night, and I’m ready to keep working hard for our party and continue fighting the good fight,” Flores Lopez said in an interview hours after Alcántara’s resignation was made public.
Despite their exhaustion, other local Democrats have also sprung to action for the chair race.
The North East Bexar County Democrats hosted three announced candidates at their meeting on Nov. 10.
In a move unusual, NEBCD President Madeleine Dewar said the group’s leaders, along with leaders of the Tejano Democrats and the Northwest Bexar County Democrats have all rallied around Michelle LoweSolis, who they hope will bring the party’s long-divided factions back together. (Leaders from the Northwest Bexar County Democrats followed up after publication to say their group did not make an endorsement in the race.)
LoweSolis is a former Assistant Deputy Under Secretary in the U.S. Air Force who served as communications director for the group Mothers Against Greg Abbott.
Larry Romo, a third candidate, is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who served as President Barack Obama’s Selective Service director.
Dewar said the unity behind a single candidate speaks to Democrats’ desire to move beyond past disagreements. Even if LoweSolis isn’t successful, she said, “We need to get behind whoever it is.”
