Gina Ortiz Jones wins Runoff Election for San Antonio Mayor

On Saturday, June 7th, Gina Ortiz Jones won a runoff election against Rolando Pablos, becoming the mayor of San Antonio. Gina Jones went against her opponent, 57-year-old Rolando Pablos, a former Texas secretary of state and a Mexican immigrant.

Ms. Jones won the most votes in the primary election in May, winning 27 percent of the votes, in contrast to Rolando’s 17 percent. In June 7th’s election, Gina Ortiz Jones won 54.3% of the votes winning the election and becoming the mayor of San Antonio.

After unsuccessfully running twice for a congressional seat in Texas, Gina Ortiz Jones turned her plans to help more young children access education and increase increasing the amount of affordable housing to more people. She wants to make sure all children get to have a proper inexpensive education. Additionally, Ms. Jones said that one of her priorities is to combat poverty because almost 20 percent of the San Antonio population has lived below the poverty line since the 1980s.

Gina Ortiz Jones says to the New York Times, “I want to make sure that we are a city that is serving everybody” and that “[San Antonio is] a city that wants to move forward with everybody in mind”.

In 1999, Gina Ortiz Jones left San Antonio when she received an Air Force R.O.T.C. scholarship to attend Boston University and got her degrees from the University of Kansas and the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies. Much later, President Joe Biden nominated her in 2021 to the second-highest-ranking civilian position in the Air Force.

San Antonio, a Democratic city with a significant Latino population, helped many political figures such as Joaquin Castro, Julián Castro, and Henry Cisneros rise.

During her effort, her opponent, Rolando Pablo, attacks her by saying she was appropriating her last name, Ortiz. However, this did not faze her. She retorted back, saying the accusation was “racist,” and expressed, “I’m proud of my identity.”