Labor activist Adrian Reyna declared victory after taking a strong lead for the Democratic primary race in Texas House District 125.
Reyna has 80.83% percent of the early vote with Michelle Barrientes Vela taking 19.17%
Neither took more than half of the vote during an open Democratic primary in March, forcing the two into a rematch Tuesday night.
“I look out in this moment, a room full of faces that have been there from my childhood, who are there when I wake up in the morning, who have been there for me every step of the way of this campaign of my entire life,” Reyna said addressing a crowd gathered at Sari Sari, a Filipino restaurant in his district.
“Let’s finish this thing in November.”
The crowd at Sari Sari was full of Reyna’s family, labor activist friends and school coworkers. His parents, who had a major part in shaping Reyna’s path to politics, were also in attendance.
The winner on Nov. 3 will replace state Rep. Ray Lopez, 79, a longtime representative of Texas House District 125 who chose to retire this year instead of running for reelection.
This district contains a large chunk of San Antonio’s West Side and is considered a Democratic stronghold, even after Republicans went through with redistricting at President Donald Trump’s request to give the GOP more seats.
While Democrats in Bexar County outvoted Republicans during the original March primary, they were left without a high-interest statewide race in the runoff. Early voting numbers in Bexar county show fewer voters showed up for the Democratic primary runoff compared to voters in the Republican runoff.
Garnering less interest in down-ballot races and competing with a Spurs playoff game, the Democratic primary runoffs winners will be decided on by a smaller number of votes.
Following in his mother’s footsteps, Reyna, 39 is a teacher at San Antonio Independent School District working on special assignments to strengthen teaching pipelines. Between 1997 and 2001, Reyna’s father Arthur “Art” Reyna represented the same Texas House district.
“My baby boy did it,” said teary-eyed mom Sylvia Reyna, after early votes showed Reyna taking more than 80% of the vote.
“I’m embarrassed he didn’t get 90%,” Reyna’s father joked. “He talked from a young age about running for something, but he never talked about running for this. This whole campaign is about lifting people up with him, you know. He stands on the shoulders of so many people who worked to make this happen.”
Reyna serves as vice president for San Antonio Alliance, a teacher and school staff union at SAISD. He’s also on the board of the San Antonio AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.
Even though the teacher’s union and SAISD’s administration have often butted heads, Superintendent Jaime Aquino was present at Reyna’s watch party on Tuesday night.
Aquino, who will retire from SAISD in January, said he’s excited about having a teacher in Austin.
“Around 200 educational laws were passed last legislative session, and some of these laws were promoted by people who have never been an educator, have never taught in a public school,” Aquino said.
Teachers across Texas are also celebrating the win.
“There’s no one better to fight for Texas educators than an educator himself,” said Zech Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers. “We are excited to continue that work in the halls of the Texas Capitol.”
Reyna said working as a teacher has given him a “human” approach to policy work, since he has lived experience of teaching and has worked alongside labor activists for years.
“You get to see all of the parts of life when you’re a teacher,” Reyna said in a pre-election night interview. “That’s part of what I’m very interested and excited to bring to the Capitol.”
Whoever wins the runoff election will go up against Republican Ricardo “Rick” Martinez, a commercial lighting contractor, during the November general election. Martinez won the GOP primary outright with over 58% of the vote.
