San Antonio – How many millions does it take to be mayor?
The San Antonio mayor’s race is quickly veering into “unprecedented” territory with the amount of spending, especially by outside groups. Campaign finance reports filed last week with the city and state show between $2.3 million and $2.9 million has been spent on the race between Gina Ortiz Jones and Rolando Pablos so far.
And political experts expect millions more dollars will be spent before the June 7 runoff is over.
Though the Ortiz Jones and Pablos campaigns have spent a combined $1.1 million since wading into the mayor’s race in 2024, much more has been spent on their behalf by other political groups.
“This is going to be an unprecedented level of outside money being spent to choose the mayor of our city. And I don’t like it at all. In fact, I think it’s bad for the city,” said political strategist Christian Archer, who is not involved in either campaign.
Pablos
Pablos, who trailed Ortiz Jones in the May 3 election with 17% of the vote compared to her 27%, is benefitting the most from outside groups.
A conservative political action committee, Texas Economic Fund, has raised nearly $1.5 million and sunk $866,000 into the race on his behalf, largely on video production, various advertising, and direct mail.
The PAC includes donations from San Antonio companies like RegentX Partners ($150,000) or well-heeled locals like Morgan’s Wonderland founder Gordon Hartman ($116,500). However, a Massachusetts-based Super PAC, Conservative Americans, has thrown in a whopping $500,000 to the Texas Economic Fund.
The San Antonio Police Officers Association, which endorsed Pablos, has spent more than $416,000 in San Antonio’s runoff election, but it’s unclear how much is directly for Pablos’s benefit. The group is also supporting District 8 City Council candidate Ivalis Meza Gonzalez, and aside from direct campaign contributions, it lists most of its advertising costs for an unspecified “municipal campaign.”
Similarly, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility reported $151,000 worth of expenses that were in support of a combination of Pablos, District 9 City Council candidate Misty Spears, and Irving City Council candidate Sergio Porres.
Ortiz Jones
Ortiz Jones is being supported to a much smaller degree by groups like Annie’s List, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Act 4 SA, and the Texas Organizing Project, which paid for digital advertising, canvassing, mailers, and flyers.
Her biggest outside support is coming from a DC-based Democratic PAC, Fields of Change, which has reported spending $266,000 in support of her so far and has spotlighted Ortiz Jones’s campaign on its website.
Laura Barberena, the owner of Viva Politics and campaign manager for Councilman Manny Pelaez’s failed mayoral bid, believes even San Antonio’s supposedly non-partisan mayor’s race is fueling partisan spending in what she calls “post-Trump times.”
Ortiz Jones is a two-time Democratic congressional candidate, who served as the Under Secretary of the U.S. Air Force under the Biden administration. Pablos served as Texas Secretary of State under Gov. Greg Abbott.
“We’re almost fighting for the soul of San Antonio here to determine whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican. And I think a lot of people want to be sure that their side wins,” Barberena said.
How much more?
Archer and Barberena also both noted donors can only give up to $1,000 to a mayoral candidate in an election cycle, which limits how much candidates are able to raise.
“Because really, to run a real race in San Antonio citywide you’re looking at $1 million plus, both of these campaigns have not been able to reach that marker. So now you see these outside money’s coming in and sort of making up that difference,” Barberena said.
Neither she nor Archer think the money will stop anytime soon.
Barberena estimates the spending could run to “probably close to $5 million,” while Archer thinks spending in the runoff election alone will be “North of $5 million.”
“I think, early voting is going to be very, very close, right? And so I think that the big push is who is going to win on election day. And I think a lot more money is going to be spent between now and the 7th,“ Archer said.
Read also:
Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.
