In an already low-turnout municipal election, tiny numbers of voters in small Bexar County municipalities elected new city leaders and approved ballot initiatives on Saturday that will hold major implications for the region’s suburbs.
Kirby, for example, which hosted one of the highest-interest suburban municipal races, had 522 votes cast in a mayoral contest roiled by drama surrounding the city manager. In a nod to the high-stakes, low-interest nature of these races, incumbent Janeshia Grider defeated her challenger by just six votes.
Bexar County voters cast a total of about 160,000 votes in the May 3 election, more than 100,000 of which were by San Antonio voters, who had a high-profile mayor’s race on their ballot.
Here’s a roundup of the results from contests in the 10 other municipalities holding races the same night.
Alamo Heights
Voters in the ‘09 were asked to consider Proposition A, a reauthorization of the city’s local sales and use tax of one-half of 1% to continue providing revenue for the maintenance and repair of municipal streets.
The state requires voters to reauthorize the street maintenance sales tax every four years. Non-residents who shop in Alamo Heights will participate in the maintenance sales tax, which is expected to generate $847,000 a year.
With 571 Alamo Heights residents showing up at the polls, the measure passed with 90% in favor.
Alamo Heights also has a new mayor this year, Al Honigblum, who faced no opposition in his bid to succeed longtime Mayor Bobby Rosenthal. Three council members up this year also ran unopposed.
Alamo Heights Independent School District had one contested school board race, in which health care executive Karen Bryant beat out projects manager Timothy Blazi to fill an opening in Place 2.
Balcones Heights
Residents of the 0.66-square-mile Balcones Heights voted down a proposition that would have stripped its police officers’ union of the right to collectively bargain.
City leaders pushing the idea said it would help save money in a city that has been facing budget woes since 2024 due to revenue loss from its red-light camera program and other issues.
Opponents, including the police union, argued that barring officers from being able to negotiate wages, benefits and other working conditions would affect the retention and quality of police officers, possibly impacting public safety.
Ballot measure aside, recent Balcones Heights leaders have struggled with backlash to their handling of a deal to redevelop Wonderland of the Americas, throwing out their mayor and two council members over the issue last year.
This year, residents elected three more new council members in races decided by fewer than a dozen votes for a complete wipe of the council in consecutive elections.
In Place 3 and Place 4, Jimmy Hernandez and Tracy Ebersole unseated incumbents. In Place 5, Molly Weaver won a two-way race to replace retiring incumbent Miguel Valverde.
Hill Country Village
Hill Country Village hasn’t seen many contested elections in recent years, but residents have spent the past year debating the merits of a plan to rebuild and expand the town’s municipal complex, which includes the police station.
This year, the Northside enclave had three contested races.
Place 1 was empty after an incumbent died last year, and will now be represented by Heather Holmes Chandler, who serves on the town’s board of adjustment and business construction review board.
Place 3 will be represented by Frank Rivas, who will take the place of exiting incumbent Thomas Doyle, who declined a bid for a second term.
In Place 5, incumbent Allison Greer Francis, an executive at the Center for Health Care Services, fended off a challenge.
Hollywood Park
Another Northside municipality with three council seats up for grabs was Hollywood Park where Jim Rodriguez beat Alan Sale for Place 1, and Place 3 (Dale Randol) and Place 5 (Glenna Pearce) were uncontested.
Kirby
Elections in Kirby followed a controversial move by the council, which had voted in January to rehire Brian Rowland as city manager. Rowland was fired over a year ago after some city staffers complained about him berating them at work.
The municipality situated east of Fort Sam Houston reelected as mayor Janeshia Grider, who bested Christopher Garza by six votes.
“I know that it was by a slim margin,” Grider said addressing supporters after the May 3 count. “So that does mean that in the city of Kirby, there is work that I need to do to make sure that the citizens of Kirby [receive] communication on what’s going on in the city.”
Incumbent council members Joe Molina and Maria Lozano also were reelected to council and will be joined by newcomer Susan Street.
Leon Valley
The municipality in northwest San Antonio has two new council members and a third returning.
Danielle Carriere Bolton beat out Benny Martinez with 62% of the vote for the Place 1 seat. Incumbent Philip Campos was reelected without an opponent to another term for Place 3, and Beth Mursch, who also was uncontested, will serve in Place 5.
Live Oak
A tiny municipality in the Interstate 35 corridor where Mary Dennis has served as mayor since 2010 had on its ballot three council seats.
Angela Green and incumbent Aaron Dahl were uncontested for Places 1 and 5, and incumbent Erin Perez beat out Alexandra McPherson with 70% of the vote.
Olmos Park
On the six-member Olmos Park council, Place 1 incumbent Adam Harden lost to Chris Pal-Freeman by about 6% of the vote.
Juliana Decamps Dusek and Sharon Plant ran unopposed and were reelected for another term.
Universal City
Four residents of Universal City vied for the three open seats on the city council of the town adjacent to Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. Securing a place were Ashton Bulman, Christina Fitzpatrick and Bear Goolsby.
Von Ormy
With Mayor Casey Homer stepping down for what he said were “personal reasons,” Von Ormy had two contenders for the top post.
Art Martinez de Vara, who previously served as mayor of the southwestern burg from 2008 to 2015, took 66% of the vote for mayor over Amanda Alcozer’s 33%.
A lawyer and historian, Martinez de Vara is representing the Conservation Society of San Antonio in its lawsuit against the University of Texas at San Antonio and the City of San Antonio to stop the demolition of the Institute of Texan Cultures building.
In a victory post to social media following the election, the new mayor thanked supporters and stated, “Onward in liberty!”
Homer, who has been at odds with commissioners over governance issues, balancing the city budget and taxation, said he plans to continue helping the city.
“I’m a business owner here, I’ve got properties here, got investments here,” he said. “The city has a lot of opportunity ahead of it.”
Running unopposed, Sebastian Martinez and Ramon Guzman were reelected to the three-member board of commissioners.
Outside the County
Several towns on the outskirts of Bexar County also held mayoral elections on May 3.
In Boerne, Mayor Frank Ritchie was reelected to a second term, and in Bulverde, Helen Hays will succeed Mayor Bill Krawietz, whose term ended.
In Castroville, longtime Mayor Darrin Schroeder was ousted by council newcomer Bruce Alexander.
