2024 elections: Guide to San Antonio area races
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Election Day is Nov. 5, and in-person early voting kicks off Oct. 21 in Texas. Here's what you need to know about how to vote and key races around San Antonio.
Why it matters: In addition to the presidency, control of U.S. Congress is at stake, and San Antonio area voters will have a say in multiple races.
- Local propositions that could lead to longer City Council term limits and higher pay for councilmembers, the mayor and city manager are also on the ballot.
The intrigue: Most area U.S. House and legislative races are expected to be lopsided, with districts drawn to favor one party or the other.
Voting in Texas
The deadline to register to vote in Texas is Oct. 7.
- You can check your registration status online with the Bexar County Elections Department.
- Update your name and address with the secretary of state if either has changed.
Yes, but: Unfortunately, registering to vote requires printing the paperwork and taking a trip to the post office.
- You can request a paid-postage form to be mailed to you.
Pro tip: Bring your voter registration certificate with you to the polls.
- If you don't, you can still vote by signing an affidavit at the polling place and showing some other form of identification.
How to prepare: Enter your address into this Texas Tribune tool to see the local and county races on your ballot.
More key dates: Oct. 25 is the last day to apply to vote by mail.
- In-person early voting ends Nov. 1.
U.S. Senate: Colin Allred (D) vs. Ted Cruz (R)
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican former Texas solicitor general first elected to the Senate in 2012, faces U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Dallas).
Allred, a fundraising juggernaut and civil rights attorney, has tried to make the election a referendum on Cruz's anti-abortion rights positions, and he's criticized Cruz's visit to Cancún, Mexico, in 2021 during the deadly Texas winter storm.
- Allred recently picked up the endorsement of Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney.
Cruz, meanwhile, has tried to energize Texas Republican voters, warning them against complacency amid a newly invigorated Democratic Party.
- Despite a record of voting against major pieces of bipartisan legislation — the CHIPS Act and the Ukraine-Israel aid package — Cruz has presented himself on the campaign trail as a dealmaker, part of an effort to augment his conservative, rural base with suburban swing voters, per the Wall Street Journal.
The latest: Cruz and Allred have agreed to a televised debate on Oct. 15 in Dallas.
The intrigue: Texas hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994 , but Cruz only narrowly won re-election against Beto O'Rourke in 2018.
23rd Congressional District: Tony Gonzales (R) vs. Santos Limon (D)
Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio fended off a tough primary challenge from Brandon Herrera, a pro-gun rights social media influencer, this year.
Reality check: He won by about 400 votes in the primary runoff.
Now the battle for this sprawling border district heads to the general election, in which Gonzales aims to beat back Democrat Santos Limon, a civil engineer who was raised in Del Rio and now lives in San Antonio.
Context: The 23rd District covers hundreds of miles of the Texas-Mexico border, from the outskirts of San Antonio to outside of El Paso. It includes Uvalde, where 19 students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in 2022.
- Gonzales, a moderate Republican, hasn't been afraid to break from or speak against his party over his two terms in office.
The latest: At this year's Texas Tribune Festival, Gonzales predicted Republicans would lose control of the U.S. House.
Go deeper:
28th Congressional District: Henry Cuellar (D) vs. Jay Furman (R)
The race between Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and Republican Jay Furman for this South Texas district didn't interest many observers at first. Then Cuellar was indicted on conspiracy and bribery charges in May.
Catch up quick: Cuellar and his wife allegedly accepted almost $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijan-controlled oil and gas company and a bank in Mexico between 2014 and 2021, federal authorities asserted in an indictment.
- Cuellar has maintained his innocence. Colleagues in both parties have remained relatively silent on the charges.
Furman is a Navy veteran who largely has not raised the funds needed for a competitive congressional race, per the Texas Tribune.
Context: The 28th District extends from Laredo to parts of San Antonio's South and East sides.
- Cuellar, who has held the post for nearly two decades, is one of the most moderate Democrats in Congress. He voted against a bill to protect abortion access.
- Cuellar has survived tough challenges before, narrowly beating a more progressive Democratic primary challenger in 2022.
The latest: The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan group offering political analysis, recently rated the district as "likely Democrat," changing its past stance that it could be more competitive and only "lean Democrat."
Go deeper:
- Democratic Rep. Cuellar indicted on conspiracy and bribery charges
- Henry Cuellar's indictment met with silence on Capitol Hill
- Trump interferes with House GOP messaging on Cuellar indictment
- Democratic Rep. Cuellar faces House Ethics probe
Texas House District 118: John Lujan (R) vs. Kristian Carranza (D)
The matchup between Republican state Rep. John Lujan and Democrat Kristian Carranza is considered one of the most competitive statehouse races in Texas this year.
Catch up quick: Lujan, a former firefighter and sheriff's deputy, won a special election in 2021 and was narrowly re-elected in 2022. Before that, the seat was held by a Democrat.
- And Democrats have been raising big money to flip it back.
The latest: The race drew statewide attention in August when the Bexar County GOP accused Carranza of changing her last name to appeal to Hispanic voters in the South San Antonio district.
- She changed her name from Thompson in 2023 but has gone by Carranza professionally for at least a decade, per the Texas Tribune.
- Carranza says she prefers the surname of the single mom who raised her.
What's next: Lujan and Carranza will face off in an Oct. 8 debate moderated by the San Antonio Report and hosted in conjunction with the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.
City Charter amendments
Six amendments to San Antonio's City Charter are on the November ballot.
Why it matters: The charter dictates how local government operates, and it can only be amended every two years by a public vote.
State of play: The amendments will appear on the ballot as propositions A through F.
Some key propositions are:
Proposition C: A "for" vote would remove the current caps on the city manager's tenure and pay, allowing the City Council to set those instead of the City Charter.
Proposition E: A "for" vote would raise annual pay for city councilmembers to $70,200, and yearly pay for the mayor to $87,800.
- Currently, councilmembers are paid $45,722. The mayor's salary is $61,725.
Proposition F: A "for" vote would extend City Council terms to four years instead of the current two years.
- The maximum amount of time the mayor and councilmembers would be allowed to serve would remain the same, at eight years total.
Go deeper: