It was Election Night in Texas on Tuesday, with some very close races across Bexar County. Voter turnout was higher than expected for a Joint Primary Runoff Election, coming in at 10%. Of the total 114,000 votes cast, 31,600 were cast on Election Day alone.
Election night resulted in some unexpected victories and extremely close races. The Democratic Runoff for Bexar County Commissioners Court, Precinct 1 was the surprise of the night where Rebeca "Becky" Clay-Flores defeated longtime incumbent Sergio "Chico" Rodriguez. It was the Congressional District 23 race that had everyone’s attention with just seven votes separating the two candidates. As of Wednesday morning, Tony Gonzalez had 12,346 votes compared to Raul Reyes 12,339 votes. The Bexar County Elections Department still needs to count mail-in ballots as well as Military and overseas ballots if they are received by Monday, July 20.
Other highlights from the night include MJ Hegar’s victory over Royce West in the Democratic Runoff to face incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Roland Gutierrez defeated Xochil Pena Rodriguez in the race for Democratic nominee for State Senate District 19. Gutierrez will now face State Senator Pete Flores in November. Trish DeBerry won the GOP nomination over Tom Rickhoff for Bexar County Commissioner Precinct 3, and John Austin defeated Incumbent Republican Party Chair Cynthia Brehm with 66% of the votes.
The Chamber will work to schedule virtual candidate forums for the key elections in Bexar County. Count on your Chamber to ensure you are informed about the candidates’ positions on important issues facing the San Antonio business community.
