SAN ANTONIO, Texas — San Antonio’s former mayor is moving from City Hall to the county’s top elected seat after Ron Nirenberg defeated Republican Patrick Von Dohlen for Bexar County judge once every precinct finished counting.
Complete returns put Nirenberg near 67 percent and Von Dohlen near 33 percent, a gap of more than 200,000 ballots. The Democrat collected north of 427,000 votes while Von Dohlen finished shy of 215,000 across Bexar County.
Nirenberg cleared the spring Democratic primary by beating one-term County Judge Peter Sakai and now finishes the climb to the county judge office. He is set to take the oath in January and has framed public safety as his first order of business, including more support for the courts, the district attorney office, and chronic problems at the jail.
The path from San Antonio mayor to county judge tracks the long arc of retired Judge Nelson Wolff, who held the post for nearly 22 years after two mayoral terms. Nirenberg’s win keeps that City Hall-to-courthouse pipeline in Democratic hands for another cycle.
The same Election Day slate remade the courthouse leadership ticket beside him. Democrat Luz Elena Chapa captured the district attorney race with about 61 percent of the vote — roughly 388,364 ballots — finishing ahead of Republican Ashley Foster at 34 percent and independent Jason Wolff at 5 percent. Chapa becomes the first Latina elected district attorney in Bexar County and has pointed to the case backlog as an early focus.
Von Dohlen, a financial planner and conservative activist, cast himself as a fiscal outsider. The countywide tally left little doubt about the majority choice in San Antonio and the rest of Bexar County after a turbulent primary season.
Voters who backed Nirenberg said they wanted continuity on public safety and a steadier hand at the county level. With the mayor’s office already behind him and the January swearing-in ahead, the next test will be how quickly the new county judge can move resources into the courts and the jail after years of pressure on both.
For San Antonio residents watching local government, Tuesday locked in a familiar face at the Bexar County helm and a historic first in the prosecutor’s office on the same night the statewide map shifted.
Section: More San Antonio TX politics news
Filed under: San Antonio TX Politics News
