Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores (Pct. 1), who took about 46% of the vote in the March primary, has declined to appear at forums or debates with her runoff opponent, Democrat Amanda Gonzalez.
Clay-Flores and Gonzalez were invited to participate in a forum put on by three Southside neighborhood associations, Hot Wells Mission Reach, Mission San Jose and Villa Coronado, which the commissioner will not attend, according to the groups’ leaders.
The San Antonio Report also sought to schedule a Precinct 1 debate before the May 28 runoff, but Clay-Flores’ campaign declined the invitation.
“The campaign has continued the decision to not participate in forums or debates,” Clay-Flores’ campaign manager Chris Cantu said in a statement to the San Antonio Report. “Instead, the campaign is focused and committed in talking to voters directly throughout the precinct.”
Clay-Flores waged her own grassroots campaign against an incumbent, Chico Rodriguez, to win the seat in 2018. During that campaign, Clay-Flores agreed to at least one forum with her Republican opponent in the race, Gabriel Lara, which Rodriguez did not attend.
In the March Democratic primary, Clay-Flores faced five opponents, all of whom attacked her as unresponsive to constituents.
Gonzalez was the second highest vote-taker with roughly 20% of the vote, and has been endorsed by three of the other candidates: Lawson Alaniz-Picasso, Ismael Garcia and Anna Uriegas Bustamante, for the May 28 runoff.
The daughter of a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy, Gonzalez received the deputy union’s endorsement over Clay-Flores, who was backed by the Texas Organizing Project. Gonzalez’s professional background includes working in the state legislature and overseeing the nonprofit aligned with the San Antonio Police Department.
“[Gonzalez] can relate to the concerns of the community, as I believe Clay-Flores could when she first started,” said Brady Alexander, president of the Hot Wells Neighborhood Association, who volunteered on Clay-Flores’ first race.
“When [Clay-Flores] beat Chico, she was all about listening the community, but things have changed,” he said.
Hot Wells neighborhood leaders opposed a recent housing project designed to move people out of homelessness, which Clay-Flores supported, pointing to her experience with housing insecurity as a child.
While the neighborhood organizations don’t plan to make an endorsement in the race, some of the groups’ leaders made their disappointment with Clay-Flores’ lack of participation in their proposed forum clear.
“Commissioner Clay-Flores is on the record saying ‘it’s a lie’ that she is not accessible and not responsive,” said Olga Martinez, president of Villa Coronado Neighborhood Association. “This community-organized event would be an easy opportunity for her to prove her critics wrong.”
After offering to accommodate the commissioner’s schedule, and texting her personally to confirm whether she would participate, Brady said they scheduled the forum for April 20.
They plan to leave an empty chair for Clay-Flores.
“We hope the commissioner will reconsider attending,” said Jane Henry, president of Mission San Jose Neighborhood Association. “She would be welcomed.”
Clay-Flores was also invited to a forum hosted by the Tejano Democrats ahead of the March primary, and did not attend.
Brady, who volunteered on Clay-Flores’ original campaign, said the pattern of avoiding forums in Precinct 1 is now being repeated.
“Chico did the same to her [when] she requested a forum with him,” he said.
