San Antonio elects its 1st Asian American woman, openly gay mayor

Gina Ortiz Jones defeated Rolando Pablos to become the mayor of San Antonio, Texas, making history as the city’s first Asian American woman, first Filipino woman and first openly gay mayor.

By the numbers: Jones won 54% of the vote in the runoff election, receiving 77,484 votes to Pablos’ 65,202. Aside from the aforementioned milestones, she is now the first Asian American woman to helm a major Texas city and the first woman mayor in Texas to have served in war.

About Jones: Jones, a 44-year-old West Side native, was born to a Filipino mother who immigrated from the Philippine province of Pangasinan and raised her and her sister alone. Jones left San Antonio in 1999 after receiving an Air Force ROTC scholarship to attend Boston University. She served as an intelligence officer in Iraq and later managed a $173 billion budget and 600,000 personnel as undersecretary of the Air Force in the Biden administration. She lost congressional races in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District in 2018 and 2020 before winning this mayoral contest.

What she’s saying: In her victory speech Saturday night, Jones thanked her supporters and reminded the crowd that San Antonio “is about compassion” and “leading with everybody in mind.” She also stressed that her victory is “a testament to the vision we put forward — a vision of getting things done while treating people with dignity, respect and compassion.” She also said she looks forward to being “a mayor for all.”

Jones faces immediate challenges including projected multi-million dollar budget deficits when she takes office.