New faces come aboard Gonzales ISD, Nixon and Smiley councils

Gonzales ISD will have two new trustees on the school board while a former Gonzales city councilman has been elected to a new term in complete but unofficial returns from the Saturday, May 6, election.

There will also be two new members and one incumbent elected to the Nixon City Council and two incumbents and one new member elected to the Smiley City Council after close races in both jurisdictions.

Gonzales ISD

D’Anna Robinson defeated incumbent Glenn Menking in the GISD District 3 trustee race by just eight votes, 132-124. Robinson outgained Menking, 92-88, in early and absentee balloting and 40-36 on election day.

Meanwhile, Ashley Molina defeated Krystal Navejar, 152-78, in the GISD District 6 race in a battle of first-timers running for the seat formerly held by Sue Gottwald, who resigned earlier this year. Former GISD Superintendent Dr. Kim Strozier has been temporarily serving as interim trustee. Molina outgained Navejar, 99-59, in early and absentee voting and 53-19 on election day.

Gonzales City Council

Lorenzo Hernandez, who served on the Gonzales City Council previously for six years, was elected to represent District 3 once more after he defeated Douglas Durham, 79-34. Hernandez will succeed Bobby O’Neal, who did not seek re-election. Hernandez outgained Durham, 51-26, in early and absentee balloting and 28-8 on election day. Hernandez last served on the council in 2017.

Nixon City Council

Newcomers Patsy Vigil Scherrer and Melissa Pompa and incumbent Justin B. La Fleur were elected to the Nixon City Council Saturday in a close race that saw La Fleur take the third and final spot available by just three votes as 10 candidates were on the ballot seeking a seat at the council dais.

Scherrer received the most votes at 120, followed by Pompa with 119 and La Fleur with 65. Incumbent Rene Amaya received 62 votes, followed by Michael Martinez with 61, Adolph Trigo with 60, Shannon Smith with 56, J.J. Garza with 26, Angel De La Cruz with 25 and Bryan Williams with 15.

It was La Fleur’s election day tally of 21 votes that put him back on the council as Amaya, Smith and Trigo (46 each) had more early and absentee ballots than La Fleur (44), but Amaya received just 16 votes on election day, while Trigo got 14 and Smith got 10. Martinez received 39 early votes and 22 on election day.

Pompa (88) and Scherrer (79) received more early votes than any other candidate received in total votes. Scherrer also had 41 election day votes, compared to 31 for Pompa.

Smiley City Council

Incumbents Diane P. Moreno and Lori Price will be joined by newcomer Dionicio G. Benavidez (Daniel) on the Smiley City Council after Saturday’s election, which had a seven-candidate field.

Moreno got 65 votes, while Price had 59 and Benavidez had 57. Incumbent Elisa Douglas was just six votes back of Benavidez with 51 votes, while Richard Morgan Forester Jr. (Rick) had 45 votes. Former Mayor Michael K. Mills had 44 votes and his daughter, Michaela Mills, had 33 votes.

The election was won with early and absentee voting as Moreno had 39 votes, Benavidez had 36 and Price had 31. Douglas had 28 in early and absentee voting, while Forester had 19, Michael Mills had 10 and Michaela Mills had 7.

By contrast, Michael Mills had the most election day votes with 34, while Price was second with 28 and there was a three-way tie for third with 26 (Forester, Moreno and Michaela Mills). Douglas had 22 on election day and Benavidez had 21.