San Antonio City Council District 1 election guide
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
San Antonio City Council District 1 incumbent Sukh Kaur is running for a second term and faces nine challengers, the most of any incumbent this year.
State of play: Challenger Julisa Medrano-Guerra alleged in an ethics complaint that Kaur used city resources for campaigning. The Ethics Review Board will consider that allegation.
- "Given that the Medrano-Guerra campaign has admitted to hiring a private investigator to follow me, this political attack comes as no surprise," Kaur said in a statement to KSAT. "I remain confident that the ethics review board … will find no merit in these allegations."
Plus: Kaur told the SA Report last month that she was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in Houston 12 years ago.
- The record is sealed, but Kaur said she told the news organization about it because she believed her opponents sought to use it against her.
By the numbers: Kaur raised more than $31,000 from January through late March and had more than $110,000 on hand, per the latest campaign finance report.
- Medrano-Guerra raised just $75, per the latest report.
Between the lines: District 1 is home to several city projects that have divided residents on the issues of growth and gentrification, and that shows in the slate of candidates — which includes one person who's been involved in the fallout over Brackenridge Park tree removals and one who previously lived downtown at the Soap Factory Apartments, set to be razed for development around a new Missions stadium.
The candidates, including recent fundraising hauls for the ones with the most cash, are:
Medrano-Guerra: Co-owner of Paramour at The Phipps, a rooftop bar that was in a legal battle with its landlord. She is married to prominent local attorney Martin Phipps.
Matthew J. Gauna: An environmental science student at UTSA.
Kaur: A political newcomer when she was elected two years ago, she founded an education consulting company and is a former teacher.
Ramiro Gonzales: Has worked in the City Attorney's Office and is the former CEO of Prosper West, a West Side economic development nonprofit.
Dominique "Domingo" Littwitz: An entrepreneur whose business sells pizza-sized quesadillas.
Maureen Galindo: A marriage and family therapist who used to live at the Soap Factory Apartments, an affordable downtown complex where residents including Galindo complained of possible displacement years before the coming demolition.
Susan Strawn: A former federal prosecutor and longtime River Road resident who has twice served on its neighborhood board, Strawn is on the Brackenridge Park Stakeholder Advisory Committee, which was formed after protests over tree removals.
- She raised more than $12,500 and had more than $7,700 on hand in the latest campaign finance report.
Anita Marie Kegley: The founder of a general contractor business who ran for Congress as a Republican in 2020.
Patty Gibbons: A past City Council candidate in District 9 and a longtime neighborhood leader in Greater Harmony Hills who has been active with the Republican Party of Bexar County.
- She raised nearly $12,000 and had nothing on hand at the end of the last campaign finance report period.
Arnulfo Ortiz: An attorney and former staffer in the Texas Legislature and U.S. Congress.