SD21: Frank Pomeroy, pastor of the Sutherland Springs church where a 2017 mass shooting occurred, announced he would challenge Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) as a Republican. He made the announcement following his church’s Sunday service. We previously reported he established a campaign committee for the race.
SD21 has grown less reliably Democratic over the past two decades but remained 13 points bluer than the state as a whole in 2018. The average statewide Democratic candidate has fared no worse than 56% of the vote, measured head-to-head against the average Republican, since 2002. Zaffirini received 68% of the vote in the 2012 general election, which was the last time she faced a Republican candidate.
HD118: Universal City real estate agent and former council member Adam Salyer established a campaign committee for a potential challenge of Rep. Leo Pacheco (D-San Antonio) as a Republican. Salyer lost races for mayor of Universal City in 2016 (20%) and 2018 (16%). HD118 was 12 points bluer than the state as a whole in 2018.
The district was briefly represented by a Republican in 2016, when John Lujan (R-San Antonio) upset Tomas Uresti (D-San Antonio) in a special election. Uresti went on to defeat Lujan in the 2016 general election, but lost his re-election bid to Pacheco in the 2018 Democratic primary.
Bexar Co.: Genie Wright, a former county court-at-law judge, and real estate investor Mitch Meyer are expected to seek the County Commissioners Court seat being vacated by Comm. Kevin Wolff (R), who announced he would not seek re-election. Wright was previously considering a primary challenge of Wolff. Others considering the Republican primary race, according to the San Antonio Express-News’s Gilbert Garcia, are former council member Greg Brockhouse, council member Clayton Perry and public relations executive Jonathan Gurwitz. On the Democratic side are community activist Sarah Sepeda-Garcia and Ismael Reyes. Both of those candidates established campaign committees prior to Wolff’s retirement announcement.
Two other candidates have established campaign committees: marketing coordinator Ellen Pfeiffer and human resources manager Kenny Vallespin, both likely as Republicans.
El Paso: The city council will meet tomorrow (Monday) morning to determine whether to call a special election, even as the council member involved insists she has not resigned. Mayor Dee Margo has asked the city council to approve a special election for the D3 council seat because he believes council member Cassandra Hernandez triggered the constitutional “resign to run” provision. At issue is a Facebook page for “Cassandra Hernandez for Mayor of El Paso, Texas” that briefly appeared to be publicly viewable last week. Margo argued that the page signified an announcement for a public office, which would mean that Hernandez had automatically resigned. Hernandez said she has made no announcement and intends to serve her full term. Margo is up for re-election in November 2020.
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