What do I think, before hearing any debates or anything? Glad you asked!
Mayoral Race
Mayor Jane Hughson is a centrist. She is extremely honest, hard working, detail-oriented, and she operates in good faith. She tries to compromise and find common ground. She tries to educate herself when she doesn’t know or understand something.
In short, she’s an outstanding politician, but I don’t entirely agree with her ideology.
John Thomaides was on council from the 2000s until 2018, and he was mayor from 2016 to 2018, when he lost to Jane Hughson. Early on, he was the single liberal vote against a tide of conservative votes. Then in the early 2010s, he switched sides. Thomaides joined forces with Shane Scott, Jude Prather, and Scott Gregson. They rammed through a bunch of contentious issues, despite community uproar. (The issue of the day was large student apartment complexes in central San Marcos. Think the Cottages, the Retreat, and the Woods, which is the worst of all, and is now called something else. Redpoint? They were also trying to put one on Sessom Creek, which would have been a holy disaster. Fortunately that one got defeated.)
[Updated to add: I need to go through and check those assertions above, when I’ve got a minute. JMA pointed out that neither Thomaides nor Prather voted for The Woods, and also reminded me about the HEB fight next to Purgatory Creek. And that Prather just opted not to run for re-election. In the next few days, I’ll try to get a more accurate post written. And I’m sorry about potentially spreading misinformation.]
Thomaides burned through all the trust and goodwill that he’d built up from the left, and then some. Scott, Prather, Gregson, and Thomaides all lost their council seats in the mid-2010s.
In short, I expect him to tell me what I want to hear, and then go vote for the opposite. I have zero trust in him. With Shane Scott and Jude Prather both back on Council, it feels like Thomaides is trying to get the band back together.
City Council Place 1
Max Baker is the encumbent. He is extremely liberal. He is very knowledgeable and prepares thoroughly. He sometimes argues tiny points to the detriment of the larger battle that he’s fighting, and has a reputation for getting into fights up on the dais.
He’s great on the environment, challenging the status quo, and being suspicious of traditional bastions of power that keep the status quo entrenched. The only thing I often disagree with him on is increased housing density. He’s anti-sprawl, but not particularly pro-density.
Matthew Mendoza is new to P&Z, as of March. I know very little about him. I’m open to hearing what he has to say, during the debates.
I wish he hadn’t picked Max to run against. Max is an asset to the progressive movement, and Matthew is brand new to politics, and would benefit from another year or two on P&Z to learn the ropes. On the other hand, if Matthew had picked Saul, then he is competing against another Hispanic candidate and can’t increase the Hispanic representation on council.
In the absence of knowing much else, that is one thing that Matthew Mendoza has going for him: he can represent the Hispanic community, which needs more representation on Council. Still, if he waited a year, he’d be a stronger candidate and could run against Shane Scott. That seems better, right?
City Council Place 2
Saul Gonzalez was first elected in 2016, then re-elected in 2019. He almost never says anything, and almost always votes with the majority. In the past two meetings, he’s been talking a lot, and it’s been a comically abrupt change from his usual.
I do know that he’s extremely well-known in the Hispanic community, and thus represents them quite well, even if he keeps it to himself. My guess would be that many people feel very comfortable reaching out to him. So that is his biggest strength.
His opponent is Adam Arndt. Facebook tells me that this is the same person as Atom Von Arndt. That’s about all I know of him! He seems colorful. I’m looking forward to the debates.
The San Marxist 