Mayoral candidate Mike Villarreal talks with guests during the 2nd annual Webhead Cascarón Bash at Alamo Beer Company. Photo by Scott Ball.
Then-mayoral candidate Mike Villarreal talks with guests at a Fiesta event in 2015. Credit: Scott Ball / San Antonio Report

Many people have asked me to endorse a candidate for Mayor of San Antonio.

When I kicked off my campaign on a rainy day in November, I took an important pledge to not endorse any other candidates. The purpose of that pledge was to keep the highest office in our city out of the partisan fray. My willingness to set my party aside as I pursued the nonpartisan office of Mayor allowed many Republicans to support this former Democratic legislator. Though I am no longer a candidate for Mayor, I consider this promise binding.

In the days since the first round of voting, I’ve met with my supporters who have made compelling cases for why each of the two remaining candidates is the better choice. Our campaign was a unique mix that spanned political parties and brought together fiscal conservatives and social liberals. Listening to these passionate voices has convinced me that each and every one of them is capable of making a smart decision about who to vote for. They won’t all vote one way, and they don’t need me to tell them how to vote.

If I offer any guidance for my supporters, it would be to select the candidate who best upholds the principles that our campaign stood for.

Financial Responsibility

Which candidate will best make responsible financial decisions with our tax dollars? Specifically, who will best control the contract costs of our police and firefighters while keeping the overall goal of public safety in mind?

Equality

Which candidate will be a voice for the average person? Who will protect all our people against discrimination in all its forms?

Embracing Innovation and Technology

Which candidate will welcome change and innovation in the way the city provides services, including allowing the private sector to compete?

A recurring theme of our campaign and a question I ask myself is: how will we make this city a place of opportunity for our children, and for 20- and 30-year-olds seeking a place to start a business or a family? I find myself returning to that question as I contemplate who will be the best leader in this important moment for our city.

I encourage my supporters to not only vote in the June 13 runoff, but also to stay engaged because that is how we move our city forward.

*Featured/top image: Mayoral candidate Mike Villarreal talks with guests during the second annual Webhead Cascarón Bash at Alamo Beer Company.  Photo by Scott Ball. 

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Will the Next Mayor Make San Antonio More LGBTQ Friendly?

Mike Villarreal is a former state representative and founding director of the Institute on Urban Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

18 replies on “Mike Villarreal: You Choose the Next Mayor”

  3. Let’s look at these one at a time with voting records where applicable:

    Financial- police and fire won’t/can’t/don’t negotiate with ivy. They both endorsed Leticia which is a good sign they will work with her. And with lvp’s experience with budgets in the senate, she clearly has the edge here.
    That’s why she waited to resign even this year so she could vote on it for Texas.

    Equality- Leticia has a proven record standing up for equality. Ivy voted against equality in the workplace.

    Tech- ivy voted against uber and let us drop off the google fiber A list. Leticia was on the education committee for years in senate and knows how important tech is to communities.

    Looks like an endorsement for Leticia Van De Putte, wish he would just say it, but that is his choice.

    Now you have a choice-
    Please Mike people come out and vote for Leticia, we need to get back on track and ivy has held this city hostage way too long.

    Even her own leaders in her district aren’t endorsing her!

  4. Thank you for your inside. I did not support you because you continue to support Uber and Lyft knowing that they did not want to follow the city’s basic public safety regulation. These illegal operators brought wheel barrels of money to the table but that is no reason to disregard public safety rules and regulations that protect our citizens and visitors. In other cities around the country there is stories after stories on their drivers with criminal records assaulting, raping, abusing customers. How can you support these kind of irresponsible operators?

    I hope the next mayor stops this wholesale sell of what is right for our citizens.

  11. Since you refuse to endorse a candidate shows that you cannot make tough decisions. It is good that you lost. We need a mayor who can make choices and stick with them

  12. We are voting for the next mayor of San Antonio Texas. Not for President of the United States. Lets get on point here please. In her 10 months as intern mayor, Ivy Taylor has demonstrated that she does not have the leadership skills to work with a strong city manager and 10 individual personalities on city council. She has been an obstructionist and has held a “my way or the highway” attitude toward the business of the city. When it comes to local issues, whether liberal or conservative, we all want to get things done. As a Democrat in a largely Republican legislature, Leticia Van de Putte showed the kind of leadership it takes to bring people of diametrically opposing ideology together to get things done.

  13. Politicians are such sly boots. What Mike V did here is a classic example.

    Mike V wants a future with the Texas Democratic party, but is currently butt hurt about what could be seen as a betrayal by one of the high priestesses of that party, LVP – not to mention the broken promise from Taylor. Plus there is the small matter of spending 200k of his personal $$$ on the primary.

    So the trick is to endorse without seeming to endorse.

    For those not savvy to the way these peeps operate, I will translate a little politico speak to English to get you started.

    Note: While appearing to be similar, the two languages are about as separate from each other as the Northside is from the rest of town.

    1) Mike mentioning wanting to keep partisan politics out of partisan politics is a ding towards Taylor’s actively courting the moneyed conservatives and right wing religious nut jobs (From the pulpit no less – IRS! IRS! IRS? Why is the IRS never around when the constitution is being used as toilet paper?) in town. While this strategy effectively cut Taylor’s throat with Bexar County Dems, it got her into the run-off which looks to be turning into a classic example of a Pyrrhic victory.

    For those able to read between the lines, Mike has essentially drawn attention to Taylor whispering “I’m really a republican” into every rich conservative ear she can get her tongue into.

    2) “Who will protect all our people against discrimination in all its forms?”

    This one should be easy even for novice politico speech students.

    Duh!

    It is all about the NDO and Taylor’s so called religious conscious objection NO vote while representing D2 on council. While the Bible is totally down with slavery, you didn’t see right thinking Americans giving that any credence when it came time to free black slaves. Only freaky conservative bigots bought into the inferiority of the children of Ham and pushed back with institutional racism that led to the long injustices of the Jim Crow Era, LBJ having to push through the Civil Rights act of 1964, and the need even to this day for people to riot to get legitimate grievances heard.

    I could do more, but I think you guys are ready for some self study and I have bloody Mary’s to suck and slurp.

    But Bravo, Mike! Nice endorsement of LVP over Taylor without appearing to endorse anyone.

    Now about retiring that campaign debt…

  15. I love this country and what it ultimately stands for, but it is so unfortunate that we the voters end up breeding so much mediocrity. Perhaps over the long haul democracy really does breed mediocrity? (I realize there generally agreed-upon exceptions.)

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