Three candidates with very different backgrounds are mounting challenges to Precinct 1 Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores in the March Democratic primary.
Despite having little prior political experience, Clay-Flores rallied support from her party to upset longtime incumbent Democrat Chico Rodriguez in 2020. She finished second in the primary but won the runoff with 62% of the vote and went to easily defeat Republican Gabriel Lara.
Headed into her first reelection race, however, Clay-Flores has already drawn a handful of opponents who plan to challenge her for the Democratic nomination.
On Thursday Lawson Alaniz-Picasso, a staffer for former San Antonio City Councilman Roberto Treviño (D1), launched a campaign for Precinct 1 focused on her progressive values and personal experience with homelessness.
Alaniz-Picasso joins Amanda Gonzalez, executive director of the pro-law enforcement nonprofit Blue Cares, and South San Antonio Independent School District trustee Ernesto Arellano Jr., who have also been raising money for campaigns in Precinct 1.
Clay-Flores plans to seek a second four-year term, but delayed an official campaign kickoff this month due to a death in the family, according to her campaign.
“One of the reasons I ran was because I was disgusted when I realized that in 100 years, Bexar County … had never had a woman of color and had only had two women, two white women, before me,” Clay-Flores said last week while participating in a panel discussion at the Texas Tribune Festival.
While representation on the Commissioners Court is now minority-majority, Clay-Flores said, the county still has a long way to go in meeting the needs of its most vulnerable residents.
“In my precinct, I’m still fighting for constituents who don’t have running water in Bexar County,” she said. “We still have a lot of work to do that I continue to advocate and fight for.”
Commissioner seats in both Precinct 1 and Precinct 3 will be on the ballot in November 2024.
In Precinct 3, Republican Grant Moody is seeking a full four-year term after winning a special election to serve out the remaining two years of Trish DeBerry’s term. He faces a challenge from fellow Republican Christopher Schuchardt, a trucking company owner who put his own money into an unsuccessful mayoral campaign this year.
Lawson Alaniz-Picasso
Raised in San Diego, a small town in South Texas, Alaniz-Picasso, 30, received a bachelor’s of business administration and marketing from the University of the Incarnate Word.
She worked in marketing, including jobs with Broadway Bank and a pet adoption nonprofit, and as a consultant before she was hired by Treviño.
Alaniz-Picasso served as District 1’s communications director starting in 2020, where she took a special interest in assisting people experiencing homelessness at the district’s field office in the Dellview neighborhood.
She brought personal experience to the issue after living out of her car at age 20. Neighborhood pushback to the council office’s approach to the homeless ultimately played a role in Treviño’s defeat the following year.
Alaniz-Picasso went on to work as a communications and public involvement manager for the San Antonio office of WSP USA, a multinational engineering and design firm. This is her first bid for public office.
Ernesto Arellano Jr.
Arrellano, a U.S. Air Force veteran and business analyst for USAA, represents District 2 on the South San Antonio Independent School District board of trustees.
He previously served as board president for the district, which has been under scrutiny by the Texas Education Agency in recent years due to infighting on the board.
Arrellano told the San Antonio Report he was approached to run for Commissioners Court by members of the community who are unhappy with their current representation. Current South San ISD Board President Manuel Lopez hosted a campaign launch and fundraiser for Arellano earlier this month.
Arrellano pointed to the closure of Texas Vista Medical Center earlier this year as a particular disappointment.
“We’ve got a lot of elderly and poor people,” he said. “… I thought that our commissioner was going to champion [a solution to keep it open] and she just didn’t do it.”
Arrellano also served on the San Antonio Water System board of trustees from 2013 to 2018.
Amanda Gonzalez
Gonzalez runs a nonprofit focused on supporting members of the San Antonio Police Officers Association.
The daughter of a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy, she launched her campaign earlier this month and has been endorsed by the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County.
“Precinct 1 residents deserve a commissioner who will listen to their concerns and take public safety seriously,” DSABC President Ron Tooke said in a statement.
Gonzalez received her undergraduate degree from Baylor University, a master’s degree from St. Mary’s University and a doctorate in educational leadership from Texas Tech University.
