San Antonio Mayor's Race, Several Council Seats Head to June Runoff

Election night in San Antonio wrapped with several seats still up for grabs and headed for a June 10 runoff, including the race for mayor, several incumbent-less city council posts, and two sitting city council members still fighting to keep their jobs.

While Mayor Ivy Taylor came out ahead in Saturday's crowded race with 42 percent of the vote, she failed to win a clean majority to avoid a runoff. District 8 Councilman Ron Nirenberg was close behind with 37 percent, and Bexar County Democratic Party Chairman Manuel Medina, who local media dubbed the “spoiler” candidate and firebrand in the race, came in a distant third with 15 percent.

The big question at this point is whether we’re headed for a repeat of 2015, when two well-known left-leaning opponents, former state lawmakers Mike Villarreal and Leticia Van de Putte, challenged Taylor, split the progressive vote, and then sent the race to a runoff – which Taylor narrowly won. This year's runoff could very well hinge on how many of Medina’s progressive supporters turn out to vote Nirenberg in the runoff. At his campaign headquarters, Medina wouldn’t endorse either remaining candidate.

"I'm looking forward for both Ron and Ivy to continue the conversation on the issues that we brought to the forefront," Medina said. "At the end of the day, we got more votes than eleven other candidates."

Read more: http://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/05/06/election-night-recap-mayors-race-several-council-seats-head-to-june-runoff