Hughson, Derrick respond to victories

On Tuesday, San Marcos voters chose Jane Hughson to be their next mayor and gave Melissa Derrick another term as Place 6 council member. Two other council elections – the races for Hughson’s unexpired Place 4 council term and the Place 5 seat on council -- will be determined in a runoff scheduled for Dec. 11. 

Hughson, who defeated incumbent John Thomaides, said that as mayor she is excited about working with her colleagues to make San Marcos as wonderful as it can be.

“San Marcos is a great city with so many opportunities,” Hughson said after her win. “We will continue our economic development efforts for quality jobs, our workforce housing task force, protection of our neighborhoods and the environment through our land development code, and remembering our low and moderate income residents. I look forward to seeing us ALL work together to make San Marcos even more amazing than it is today!”

Derrick, who fended off challenger Juan Miguel Arredondo in Tuesday’s election, expressed enthusiasm about her next term on council.

“I’m really excited about the future for San Marcos, and I have a lot of initiatives I’ve been working on that I’m glad to be able to continue working on,” she said. “I’m especially excited that Jane Hughson will be our mayor.”

Derrick said her next priorities are pursuing no-kill status for the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter, continuing with the city’s workforce housing initiative and boosting the economy.

“I’m really excited about the efforts we’re going to be making to build the local economy by helping small businesses,” she said.

Election results will be canvassed and Hughson and Derrick will be sworn in on Nov. 14 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 630 E. Hopkins. Initial information from the city stated that the canvass would occur Nov. 15. 

Hughson garnered 7,464 votes, or 52.73 percent of the vote, while Thomaides earned 6,691 votes, or 47.27 percent. Derrick received 6,587 votes, or 52.76 percent of the vote, to Arredondo’s 5,897 votes, or 47.24 percent.  

In the Place 4 race, the top two vote-getters were Shane Scott, with 5,330 votes (47.06 percent) and Mark Rockeymoore, with 3,487 votes (30.79 percent). Griffin Spell garnered 2,509 votes (22.15 percent). Scott and Rockeymoore will face off in the runoff election in December, as will Place 5 top vote-getters Jocabed “Joca” Marquez and Rick Henderson. Marquez earned 5,339 votes (43.5 percent), while Henderson earned 4,069 (33.15 percent). Third-place candidate Mark Gleason receive 2,866 votes (23.35 percent). 

Further polling information for the Dec. 11 runoff election will be announced once the runoff is officially called.

Full election results, including County, State and Federal elections, are posted online at the county's website.