Mendoza elected to San Marcos City Council, Place 1; Gonzales re-elected to Place 2

Matthew Mendoza and Saul Gonzales were elected to the San Marcos City Council.

For Gonzales, Tuesday’s result marked his re-election to a third term to San Marcos City Council Place 2.

Mendoza, a city Planning and Zoning Commissioner, was elected to San Marcos City Council, Place 1, winning the position over incumbent Maxfield Baker.

Mendoza honored by election result

Mendoza said it’s a huge honor to be elected to city council.

“It was an honor to just campaign by itself and then to connect with my neighbors, to connect with the rest of the city to hear their wants, their needs, and it was very heartfelt to feel their support,” Mendoza said. “Now, that we have been successful in our election, now that this is over, we can now start the hard work. We can now start engaging with the community more. We can actually start working on these projects to get the community taken care of. I am ready and I really just can’t wait for this exciting chapter for the entire city of San Marcos.”

Mendoza received 52.07% of the vote with 8,866 votes compared to Baker’s 8,160.

As the challenger, Mendoza said winning the election came down to “old-school campaigning.”

“The block walking, the being with people, the engaging and going to local businesses and talking to individuals that are there getting the services from those businesses,” Mendoza said. “Going to Cafe on the Square, going to local restaurants downtown, just meeting with citizens and putting yourself out there. When you put yourself out there a lot of people engage you themselves. There was a real strive for change and I think I satisfied that need. It really was old-school campaigning.”

Now that he’s been elected to city council, he said he isn’t going in to “shock the world,” rather he wants to work on the problems that have existed in San Marcos for generations.

“I’m really wanting to work on the nuts and bolts of the city,” Mendoza said. “Then after three years, we can talk about where we stand.”

Mendoza highlighted problems with drainage on the east side of Interstate 35 as issues that have consistently existed.

“There’s always been drainage problems. There’s issues when it comes to lighting. There are street problems. There's a lack of sidewalk. There’s just a need for infrastructure on that side the city,” Mendoza said. “I don’t want to say it’s been purposefully overlooked but now we can get beyond that. Now, we can start focusing on making sure the entire city of San Marcos is represented the correct way.”

Looking forward, Mendoza said he’s grateful for this opportunity to represent San Marcos on city council.

“I am grateful for the support that I have received,” Mendoza said. “I am here to serve my community. I am here to serve my neighbors in the best way that I know how and that is with day-to-day engagement, and that is leaving myself available for discussions.”

Gonzales ‘honored and humbled’ by re-election

As early voting returns came in, Gonzales said he was humbled to see himself with a commanding lead over challenger Atom Von Arndt.

As the night went on, Gonzales secured 12,212 votes to Von Arndt’s 4,014, winning reelection with 75.27% of the vote.

“It’s a pretty humbling experience to know that you’ve got that kind of support,” Gonzales said.

Moving forward, Gonzales stated affordable homes and jobs are among his top priorities as he enters his third term on the city council.

“We need the jobs to be able to afford the houses that we are getting,” Gonzales said. “Another priority I have is infrastructure. For this city to grow, we need to have the infrastructure first. Another thing that I do have is I’ll never forget about the floods. It’s going to happen again and we have to be ready for that.”

Gonzales said he’s looking forward to serving the community again.

“I’m easy to get a hold of, they can call me whenever,” Gonzales said. “It might take me a couple days to get back to them but I will get back with them. I’m just honored and privileged to be able to serve the community.”

Mendoza and Gonzales will be sworn in after votes are canvassed and on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. inside City Hall, 630 E. Hopkins St.