Mayoral candidates Gina Ortiz Jones and  Rolando Pablos leaned into partisan attacks — and outlined very different visions for San Antonio’s economic prosperity — in a debate hosted by the San Antonio Report and Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce on Monday night.

Just more than one week out from early voting in the final stretch of their race for the mayor’s office, Jones and Pablos were quick to attack each other’s records on Pearl’s Stable Hall stage.

They will face off in a June 7 runoff, with early voting starting Tuesday, May 27.

Pablos, a former Texas Secretary of State with ties to Republican state leadership, said he would address economic development by leaning on his business acumen and leveraging relationships with leaders in Austin, Washington and Mexico City.

“We have to go out into the world and convince companies to bring high-paying jobs. That is the way we’re going to be able to tackle this poverty situation,” Pablos said during Monday night’s debate in front of a mostly full house at the downtown concert venue, which has a capacity of 700.

His opponent, former Under Secretary of the Air Force Jones, said she would tackle the city’s economic and business sector with social issues in mind, like women’s reproductive health and access to early childhood education.

Both made the case to the Chamber-minded crowd that their policies — in Pablos’ case conservative and Jones’ case progressive — would lead to economic flourishing for more San Antonians than their opponent’s would.

Throughout the campaign, Jones has linked the state’s strict anti-abortion policies to San Antonio’s inability to attract many businesses and specialized health workers, and she said Monday that health care policies that cause people to choose to live elsewhere hurt Texas’s cities.

“When we look at 2022 being the first year in 15 years that we saw an increase in teenage pregnancy in our state — numbers, math, facts,” Jones said. “Those are not political statements, the math is the math.”

Coming on the heels of several fiery forums, the debate hosted by the Report grew combative at several moments, especially when candidates were asked to explain their outside campaign funders and their approaches to the city budget.

A key clash came when Pablos accused Jones, who grew up in San Antonio, of only coming to town when she’s running for office.

Jones replied, “Sorry I couldn’t hang out with you Rolando, someone had to go to Iraq.”

The partisan matchup in a nonpartisan race has attracted big donors with Democratic and Republican interests, making Jones and Pablos the two highest-raising candidates out of a pool of 27 candidates in the May 3 election and propelling them to the June 7 runoff.

The two mayoral hopefuls also enjoy major support from political action committees, namely, the Fields of Change PAC run by a high-ranking Democratic figure for Jones, and the Texas Economic Fund, run by Gov. Greg Abbott’s former political director, for Pablos.

“I’m proud of the ways in which people have seen how I have delivered … how I have served,” Jones said when asked about the outside funding, and then criticized her opponent’s funding.

“[Abbott] appointed Rolando to a very high position, and now it’s time for Rolando to pay [him] back,” she said, after referring to Pablos as an “Abbott puppet” in her opening statement.

Pablos likewise went on the attack, calling Jones a “one-dimensional” leader who would only see the city’s issues through the lens of government.

“You’re a puppet of Washington, D.C.,” Pablos told Jones directly on the stage. “To insinuate that I’m being directed by someone — I direct you to Gina, because her interests are being led by Washington D.C.”

The candidates were not given the questions in advance, as is the Report’s standard practice for such debates.

When asked which four city services they would prioritize in the budget discussions as the city weighs looming cuts, Pablos and Jones overlapped in their answers.

Pablos said he would prioritize police and fire services, affordable housing, senior services and Animal Care Services, while Jones said she would prioritize first responders, affordable housing and the city’s public health services.

When Jones said she wanted to “look at the data” before making any decisions on cuts, Pablos retorted: “‘Looking at the data’ is government speak for, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do.'”

In his own answer to the question, Pablos said he would call for an audit of the city’s departments to identify “wasteful spending” before making cuts.

“It sounds like looking at the data,” Jones shot back.

Both of their budget responses received applause from the crowd, which had largely remained quiet until that point at the request of the moderators.

Jones and Pablos also answered the Report’s questions about the city’s role in federal crackdowns on immigrations and deportation efforts, what changes they would make to the city’s utilities services and how best to navigate relationships with state and national leaders while helming a largely blue city.

Pablos said he would like the city to shift toward using micro nuclear energy, comply and aid with federal mandates to arrest and deport illegal immigrants and use his prior relationships with state leaders to direct more resources and funding toward San Antonio.

Jones said she wants the city to pursue sustainable energy efforts, she doesn’t believe the city’s police should act as immigration enforcement officers and that she will work closely with Republican state leaders when it comes to the state’s “fun little piggy bank” dedicated to bringing corporations to Texas.

In a post-debate spin-room for media in attendance, Pablos was represented by his campaign consultant Justin Hollis and campaign surrogate Jose Ramos. Jones was represented by community activist Molly Cox.

Speaking on behalf of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce to close the event, the organization’s board chairman Pat Frost said either candidate would be a good representative of the city if elected as mayor, and “whoever isn’t elected will be a great citizen of San Antonio.”

Watch the full debate:

Disclosure: Pat Frost also serves on the San Antonio Report’s board of directors. For a full list of board members, click here.