This article has been updated.
Both incumbents Bexar County commissioners Rebeca Clay-Flores, a Democrat in Precinct 1, and Grant Moody, a Republican in Precinct 3, declared victory soon after early vote counts were released Tuesday.
Clay-Flores secured more than 58% of the early vote, and Moody just over 55% for their respective bids for reelection.
With all 302 vote centers reporting, Moody and Clay-Flores maintained their leads.
“At this point, I’m just gonna say it’s official,” Moody said at an election watch party at Bigz Burger Joint near UTSA. “We are proud to be re elected as your Bexar County Commissioner for Precinct 3.”
Moody faced Democrat Susan Korbel, who has owned a market research firm in San Antonio since 1989, in the growing North Side precinct. Clay-Flores’ Republican challenger was Lina Prado, a senior supply chain manager at Boeing.
Moody in Precinct 3
Precinct 3 on the county’s North Side encompasses some of Bexar County’s reddest territory and has sent a long line of Republicans to the county’s five-member commissioners court.
Moody, a Marine fighter pilot, won the seat in a 2022 special election.
His deeply conservative background helped make him the choice of Republican precinct chairs to run for the seat in 2022, but his resume includes an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, as well as executive roles at USAA and Valero.
Since arriving on the court, Moody and his team say they’ve been pleasantly surprised by the collaboration with county staff and fellow commissioners to solve problems and deliver money for projects in his precinct.
But his relationships across the aisle have also helped insulate him from hyperpartisan labels hurting other GOP candidates this cycle, even as he’s lurched in that direction with increasing frequency.
Kobel waged an unsuccessful campaign against Moody two years ago and was ready to sit this year out, she said, until her husband presented her with a spreadsheet detailing the precinct’s tightening races as its population has grown over the past decade.
According to Korbel’s numbers, Precinct 3 added roughly 100,000 new registered voters between 2012 and 2022 — an almost 40% increase.
The precinct added about 10,000 new voters between 2020 and 2022, and Korbel said there’s been a noticeable difference in Democratic enthusiasm since she campaigned for the seat just two years ago.
At a candidate forum hosted by the Oak Park Northwood Neighborhood Association, Korbel pointed to her experience serving on the Alamo Colleges District Board in the early 2000s as evidence she would bring accountability to a body that makes many decisions outside of the public’s view.
She was a whistleblower in a corruption scandal in which several Alamo Colleges trustees were charged and one went to prison.
Clay-Flores in Precinct 1
Precinct 1 is the solidly blue Southside and Westside precinct on the county’s Commissioners Court and is home to the expanding Toyota plant, Joint Base San Antonio, Port San Antonio, Texas A&M University-San Antonio and the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River.
Clay-Flores has a master’s degree in education from Harvard and spent most of her career teaching before going to work for the city’s Metropolitan Health District.
She won her seat four years ago by ousting longtime Democratic incumbent Sergio “Chico” Rodriguez, who held the seat for four terms or 16 years. Neither commissioners nor the Bexar County Judge have term limits.
Clay-Flores declared victory in the May runoff for the primary election with 63% of the vote and a prepared speech in which she accused her opponent Amanda Gonzalez and a local law enforcement union of “instigating racism” and “bullying and harassment.”
In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, Clay-Flores led an effort to direct federal COVID relief money toward mental health services for public school students, something she said she wished had been available when she herself was a struggling young person. She’s also been an outspoken proponent of the county funding performing arts, noting the benefit to school children from backgrounds like her own who wouldn’t otherwise have access to it.
Prado is president of Women in Aviation Alamo City, a nonprofit that supports women pursuing careers in aviation. She was born in the Dominican Republic. wants to address crime, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to amenities and healthcare in Precinct 1.
Amid tighter county budgets, Prado wants to prioritize public safety and street projects.
“[P]rojects focused on beautification or non-essential amenities can be put on hold,” she wrote in a candidate questionnaire. “We need a strategy that prioritizes critical infrastructure based on feasibility, necessity, and the value it provides to residents.”