Cities, school districts see contested races in May 6 election

The filing deadline has passed for the May 6 municipal and school board elections and every city and school district within Gonzales County will have at least one race or measure on the ballot for voters to decide.

Gonzales City Council

Seats available on the Gonzales City Council include District 3 (held by Bobby O’Neal) and District 4 (held by Ronda Miller). 

O’Neal did not file for re-election. However, two individuals did — Lorenzo Hernandez and Douglas Durham. Miller filed for re-election to District 4 and is the only person on the ballot for that race.

Gonzales ISD

Seats available on the Gonzales ISD Board of Trustees include District 3 (currently held by Glenn Menking), District 6 (formerly held by Sue Gottwald) and District 5 (currently held by Ross Hendershot III).

Menking filed for re-election in District 3 and will face a challenge from D’anna Robinson. Hendershot is running unopposed in District 5.

On Monday, Feb. 20, the GISD Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of Gottwald, who had initially filed for re-election but rescinded her application. They appointed former GISD Superintendent Dr. Kim Strozier to serve District 6 until the May 6 election. Meanwhile, Ashley Molina and Krystal Navejar have filed to run for Gottwald’s seat.

Nixon City Council

Seats available on the Nixon City Council include ones held at-large by Justin LaFleur, Rene Amaya and the late Mary Ann Fatheree, who passed away Jan. 27.

Both La Fleur and Amaya filed for re-election and will be joined on the ballot by eight other candidates — Adolph Trigo, Melissa Pompa, Bryan Scott Williams, Michael Martinez, Juan J. Garza Jr., Shannon Smith, Angel De La Cruz and Patsy Scherrer.

Smiley City Council

Seats available on the Smiley City Council include three held at-large by Linda Warzecha, Diane P. Moreno and Elisa Douglas.

Warzecha did not seek re-election, but Moreno and Douglas did. They are joined on the ballot by Elisa Rick Forester, Lori Price, Michael Mills, Michaela Mills and Daniel Benavidez.

Nixon-Smiley CISD

Seats available include Place 4 (currently held by Chris Villasana) and Place 6 (currently held by Aly Tschoepe). Villasana is unopposed for Place 4, but Loyce Adcock-Rice is challenging Tschoepe in Place 6.

Waelder City Council

Seats available on the Waelder City Council include ones held at-large by Michael L. Harris, Valentino Hernandez and Curtis Hadnot Jr.

There is also an unexpired term belonging to Sam Ramirez, who died last month, less than a year after being elected to office, but no one signed up to run for that seat, so council members will either need to appoint a replacement or leave the seat vacant until next May.

Harris (on the ballot as Mike Harris) and Hadnot (on the ballot as Curtis Hadnot) will seek re-election to their full terms, but Hernandez did not file again to run. They will be joined on the ballot for the at-large full-term positions by Robert R. Tovar (Robert (Kido) Tovar), Martha L. Melchor (Martha Melchor), Loupie Marie Almaraz (Marie Ibarra Almaraz) and Rachel A. Martinez (Rachel Vargas Martinez).

Waelder ISD

At-large seats available include those currently held by Dora Noyola and Diana Olmos, both of whom filed for re-election. Because they are unopposed, that election will be canceled.

However, the school district is trying a third time to pass a bond issue for the school, this time for $10.3 million in a scaled-down version, according to Superintendent Ron Lilie. There is more about this bond issue in another story in this edition of the Inquirer.

The last day to register to vote in the May 6 election is Thursday, April 6. Early voting begins Monday, April 24 and continues through Tuesday, May 2.