Mayoral race poised for runoff

San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson and challenger Juan Miguel Arredondo are headed to a runoff in the city's mayoral contest. 

Hughson tallied a 2,400-vote lead over Arredondo, who garnered the second most votes in a five-candidate race. 

The incumbent received 8,902 votes to Arredondo’s 6,502 votes. Despite Hughson’s advantage over Arredondo, she only received 44.75% of the vote — short of the necessary 50% to win the race. With Hughson unofficially coming up short of the majority threshold, she and Arredondo are set for a runoff. 

Behind Hughson and Arredondo, Michael Sean Hathaway II received 1,887 votes — 9.49%. Justin Harris, who described himself as a fiscal conservative, garnered 1,755 votes — 8.82%. Randy Dethrow, who labeled himself a Democratic Socialist, received 845 votes — 4.25%. 

Hughson didn’t immediately respond for comment regarding Tuesday’s result. In a Q&A with the Daily Record prior to the election, Hughson said she was inspired to run for reelection to “make life better for San Marcos residents, along with the city council. 

“The Mayor is privileged to be able to speak for San Marcos and represent San Marcos across the region,” Hughson said in the Daily Record’s voter guide. 

Arredondo, who also won reelection to the San Marcos Consolidated ISD Board of Trustees District 1, said serving his hometown has been “the privilege of my life.”

“I am thankful that San Marcos CISD District One voters for re-electing and trusting me to represent them once more on our school board,” Arredondo said in a statement. “I look forward to advocating on the behalf of ISD students and families while continuing my campaign for mayor. The good news about this runoff is that San Marcans have a very clear choice for mayor: A future-facing progressive candidate powered by the people or an out of touch incumbent mayor supported by special interest groups and a police union committed to striking down our cite-and-release ordinance.”

Nearly 20,000 San Marcos residents voted in the mayoral race — 19,891. In the previous mayoral election, 20,089 residents cast their ballot in 2018. 

The runoff election will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 8. The City of San Marcos stated that polling locations will be announced when the runoff is officially called.